Through The Looking Glass
by symphonyofsilence
Summary: Ed and Al just saved each other from the gate but when they land in Karakura town and find that shinigami are fighting Envy it turns their little world upside down. possible het and yaoi pairings in future chaps.
1. Alchemist meet Shinigami

Ok people here is a story that I have wanted to write for... ok a long time :) it takes place at the end of the first Fullmetal Alchemist anime series but before the movie and just for warning there are lots of spoilers in here for the end of the FMA storyline. There may possibly be some spoilers for the Bleach storyline as well but its all pre-winter war and based more on the anime than the manga.

There will be pairings in this story, both het and yaoi and some of them may be a little... odd so if your not ok with that please hit the back button.

Lets not forget I don't own Bleach or Fullmetal Alchemist and I dont make any money writing this, its simply the product of my over active imagination combined with my overwhelming urge to write.

Now without further ado...

* * *

He could feel that there was a change to the gate but he couldn't really put his finger on what it was. To tell the truth he couldn't really think of anything in the resultant situation. God how he _hated_ that fucking gate. Slithering hands pulling him into a darkness that was so thick it was like a sludge constricting his every move, making it unable to breathe, wrapping around his soul, surrounding every part of him, and every moment was terrifying beyond anything he had ever experienced… Those eyes. The only thing worse than the all encompassing darkness were the eyes, so many they couldn't be counted, all staring at him, boring though his soul, making him feel like he would dissolve under them. He had tried so desperately to get his brother back from the brink, the only person he would go to that place for. He had offered anything and everything just for the simple knowledge that he would be ok, that he would be alive.

He could still feel the arms pulling at him, wrapping around his body with their slick oily blackness. He pulled away from them, had to get away but his body simply wouldn't comply. He felt sick and the bile rose up to the back of his throat, tingeing the back of his mouth with the foul acidic taste. He shook his head trying to gain some kind of sense of where he was. The hands were still on him but they felt different, real and warm. Someone was calling his name and he tried to focus on the voice in order to get some semblance of himself again.

"Brother! Please wake up! BROTHER!" It was Al! Maybe the plan actually worked; maybe he was actually able to save him from the entryway of the gate. He cracked an eye, the force of it making his head spin.

"…'S ok I'm here." His voice sounded wheezy and thick, like he had a cold or something. If that were the case he would have gladly taken the sniffles instead of the nauseous dizzying world that surrounded him now. His faculties were slowly starting to come back to him and he opened his other eye carefully to focus on his brother. Instead of gleaming metal and creaking armor he saw two terrified smoky colored eyes under a ruffle of caramel hair, disheveled but real… So real.

"AL!" He didn't care that his voice cracked with the force of his scream or that the sound reverberated through his skull, feeling like it was going to split open. He grabbed on to his brothers arms for dear life, feeling the warmth seeping in through his gloved hand. He was real, he was here and the abyss he felt tugging at his soul ebbed just that little bit. "It worked! You got your body back!" It was all he could do to keep the tears at bay. The long days and longer nights, the pain and heartbreak at every turn trying to return his brother to his body finally came to the goal he was so desperately scared would never come. It wasn't in vain then.

"Yeah it's back but we have a problem, Envy is here and he keeps yelling for dad… But it doesn't look like Envy at all! I had to drag you over here so he wouldn't see us." Al's eyes looked huge and frightened as he looked over his shoulder. Ed followed his eyes and could feel them widen in shock at the scene before him.

It was some kind of creature, not Envy at all but the screeching voice calling out Hoenheim's name could not be mistaken. It was Envy's voice alright. The body was so different though. It was huge, black and had two large hind legs and four arms, waving madly into the air in its rage to find his father. Instead of the chill smiling face there was a mask, black and white with some kind of markings on them and through the center of his body there was a hole, as if Envy's soul were missing. Huh, that wouldn't be possible, Envy had no soul, he was just pure evil. His name suited him quite well he thought darkly.

He watched in horrified amazement as one of its arms crashed down on a building, effectively rendering it to rubble in its two story temper tantrum. Ed got up on shaky knees, using his brother's arm for support. They were on some kind of rooftop, hiding under a small overhang. If Envy looked in the right direction he knew they were screwed and tried to look for a better place to hide and recover a little more. As he looked for a safer hiding place he caught sight of three people running along the rooftops, coming closer to the creature, monster – thing now known as Envy. One had black hair with glasses, the other two were redheads and for some reason held swords and wore uniforms, none of them much older than Ed himself. They were actually going near Envy!

"Don't go near that thing! He'll kill you!" Ed managed to yell out. The darker haired kid seemed to hear him and turned a piercing blue eye at Ed and his brother.

"You can see the hollow?"

"Of course I can see it, who couldn't!" He yelled, biting back the last comment of 'dumbass'. The young man gave him a sharp look before raising his hand and creating some kind of bow with what looked like alchemy but really wasn't. There was no clap, no crackle of energy, no circles and no tattoos, just a silver circlet of some kind hanging on his wrist. He took careful aim and let the glowing blue arrow go to hit Envy a blow to the mask, chipping it slightly along one of the edges before he screeched and arched back violently, arms flailing wildly in some sort of pain. He could see Envy change form then, the bright wave of red encompassing his body, changing into something small and human like before running off at a high rate of speed. The two guys with swords gave an indignant squawk and started chasing after him, leaving Ed, Al and the dark haired archer to look each other over.

"How long have you been able to see hollows?" The dark haired teen asked.

"Hollows? Is that what your calling Envy?" His brain was still refusing to work and tried to shake his head to dispel some of the cobwebs. Unfortunately it didn't help and another wave of crippling dizziness washed over Ed.

"Envy? Are you saying this hollow has a name? How would you know that!" The teen had come closer now, looking Ed and Al over more carefully.

"I don't know what hollows are but I know what your friends are chasing and he isn't good. Envy's dangerous!" He had slowly got up from sitting on his knees, watery legs shaking under him as his arms still desperately clung to Al, as if he would be whisked away at any moment, never to be seen again. The two redheads were coming back towards the dark haired teen now, swords still drawn and puffing profusely.

"Hey Uryuu we lost him, he's somehow masking his reiatsu." The spiky orange haired kid said. He looked over at Ed, noticing him and his brother as if for the first time. "You can see me?"

"Of course we can see you. Why wouldn't we?" Al said in his light voice. Ed tried to shake off the spinning inside his head; he probably shouldn't have stood up so quickly. He held on to his brother even more tightly now, trying to keep him anchored in his world of vertigo.

"Al I…" He tried to get the words out but they wouldn't come, darkness flooded his vision and he fell to the ground.

"Brother!" Al yelled, the sound echoing painfully in his head the last thing he heard before the roaring in his ears took over.

* * *

Ichigo watched as the blonde kid slumped over in his brother's arms.

"You have to help him please!" The younger kid turned desperate eyes to the three of them.

"He knows about the Hollow Kurosaki, I don't know how but he does." Uryuu seemed troubled as he looked at the two teens in front of them, a crease puckering the lines of his forehead in concern.

"Well let's get him to Urahara's then; Renji can you take him?" Ichigo turned to Renji.

"What am I your pack mule now?" He said disdainfully but walked over to the slumped blonde anyways, lifting him easily out of the others arms.

"I guess so. Hey kid what's your name?" He looked back again at the tawny haired kid. He looked like he couldn't be older than ten or eleven years old. He looked relieved for the help and gave a wide smile before responding.

"My name is Alphonse Elric and this is my brother Edward. I'm pleased to meet you." He gave a shallow bow as he helped Renji fit the blonde haired kid more snugly on his back.

"That's cool, I'm Ichigo, The guy with glasses is Uryuu and this dork over here is Renji."

"Quit calling me a dork." Renji growled. The blonde was securely in place now and they started walking.

"You don't even know what it means." Ichigo commented. He loved taking these little digs at the lieutenant; he just reacted so well he couldn't help himself.

"I know it's not good if you're the one calling me it."

"Cut it out you two; let's try to get these guys to Urahara without fighting for once." Uryuu gave the two shinigami's a stern look and started following after. "Come on Al, your coming too." The kid nodded and fell into step with the three.

"Hey this kid's got a metal arm!" Renji was holding the kids right arm and Ichigo could see he was right; peeking between the red coat he wore and the edge of a glove was metal not skin. The metal was a deep grey-blue color that reminded him uncomfortably of gunmetal, gleaming in the afternoon light.

"How is that even possible?" Uryuu queried. He had seen it as well and his face, already darkened in thought darkened even further.

"It's automail." He heard a voice from the younger kid behind him and turned to look him over.

"What the heck is automail?" Ichigo asked. The question seemed to affect the kid, confusion and some darker emotion Ichigo wasn't sure of flitted across his features.

"It's for people who have lost their limbs. You don't know what automail is?"

"I've definitely never heard of it before. Hey Renji have you ever heard of anything like this in the soul society?" Ichigo asked as he turned to the lieutenant. Renji's face creased in thought but he eventually shook his head.

"No never. It's kinda cool lookin' though." He said as he took another look at the gleaming metal wrist in his hand.

Unease started to tingle up Ichigo's arms. Something wasn't right about these two and he couldn't put his finger on what. He snuck a look at Uryuu and could see he had a similar look of unease on his features. The rest of the trip was mostly made in silence, each deciding to take solace in their own thoughts as opposed to biting comments and angered comebacks. The blonde kid Edward still seemed to be out cold and his little companion looked worried as he followed close behind.

When they finally reached Urahara's shop they dropped the two boys off in one of the adjacent rooms and took up a rather unusual conversation with the exiled captain.

"We found the hollow easily enough but somehow it was able to change form." Ichigo said as they sat in a small circle in the common area.

"It changed form? That's not something I've heard of before." Urahara seemed concerned and kept his head down, hiding his eyes behind his green and white striped hat.

"There's more. The hollow not only changed form but it's able to mask its reiatsu." Uryuu added solemnly. He was sitting up straight, shoulders squared and tense.

"Mask its reiatsu… Are you certain?" Urahara looked intent and even a little worried as he looked between Uryuu and Ichigo.

"Yeah we're sure. Ichigo and I chased it for a while before we lost it down one of the main streets." Renji added.

"The kids we found and brought here, they said they know its name, the one that's unconscious called it Envy. Have you ever heard of any hollow by that name?" Uryuu asked as he turned to Urahara. Piercing eye met piercing eye. There was a long pause before the older man spoke again.

"No I haven't. It sounds as if this hollow is stronger and smarter than most of them out there. I would definitely like to know how that kid knew its name." Urahara said as he glanced at the door behind which the blonde was currently lying on a palette. "There's something odd about those two. Their spirit pressure is unlike anything I felt before." He said quietly as his hand rested on his chin in thought.

"He has a metal arm too." Ichigo said.

"I saw that as well. Once the kid wakes up we'll need to have a talk with the both of them." Urahara gave one more piercing look at the door then dropped his head in thought, hiding his face in the darkness of his hat again.

Ichigo looked over to the door as well. The look in the older kids' large gold eyes before he passed out came back to Ichigo and for a moment he almost shivered at the memory of it. They looked haunted, terrified, like he had looked into the face of death. It bothered him just to think of what happened in order to get that look at such a young age; the kid couldn't be more than fifteen!

* * *

The room came slowly into focus and Ed groaned. He was having a horrible dream about the gate, black hands pulling at him, trying to tear him apart. He shuddered and opened his eyes. He looked to the ceiling, expecting to see the ballroom in the underground city, Dante's cold laughter rolling over him, prickling his skin with the horrible sound but all he could make out was a dimly lit room with a small window at the far end. Where the hell was he?

Realization came crashing back to him, like it always did. That fucking gate. He remembered every part of it. His mind never let him forget and the memory of Envy screaming his fathers name in a body that wasn't his, a dark haired kid with glasses and a hard attitude and his brother string at him through real eyes all came flooding back. _Oh God Al_… He sat up quickly, hoping to whatever power there was that the eyes he had seen were not part of some twisted dream, getting his hopes up only to find that he was alone. He wasn't though; he could hear soft breathing somewhere behind him.

"Al! Oh thank God! I thought it was a dream." He said as his eyes landed on Al. Real flesh and blood Al! He looked exactly the same as the day they tried to bring their mother back, same clothes, same face, like not a day had aged him. Only his eyes gave him away. They looked different, older, out of place almost, as if the pink boyish skin and dimpled knuckles was a mask against the soul inside.

"Ed your awake!" His brother got up from his seat by the wall and came over to his brother, looking concerned. "How are you feeling?" Al's arm came to rest on his right arm, the metal limb. It looked like half of his plan worked at least. He would take it though; he would take it all for the sake of his brother looking at him with human eyes instead of through the dimness of some metal shell.

"Ugh. Sick." He said. His voice still sounded raspy and thick, like he swallowed gravel. He shook his head taking in the situation. "Where are we?"

"Some place called U-da-ha-rrahs shop… I think. The people who tried to fight Envy took us here so you could recover." The look in the smoky eyes seemed dark and foreboding, worried somehow at the situation they had found themselves in. "Brother something isn't right here."

"You could say that again." He moved to sit more comfortably on the single futon, rubbing his eyes.

"The last thing I remember before coming here was trying to save you after… After…" Al's eyes started to moisten at the edges and Ed only had the barest of warnings before he was caught in a crushing hug. "I used the philosophers' stone to bring you back. You were… _Dead_." The last word came out as a sob and he could feel his shoulder moistening with tears.

"It's ok Al, I'm here. When I woke up Rose told me what you did. You saved me. I had to do the same. I couldn't live with myself knowing that you would be…" He could feel tears prickling uncomfortably along the edges of his eyelids and hugged his brother, the fate of the two seemed impossible but somehow they were alive. Ed shook himself, trying to keep the tears at bay and pulled his brother from his shoulders, looking him over. His eyes were reddened from fresh tears and a few glistening tracks made their way down to his chin but he smiled through them. "We're ok now though and that's the only thing that matters right now." He gave a nod to his brother, smiling through the tears he felt wavering on his eyelashes. His brother nodded back and wiped the stray tear tracks from his cheeks.

"After that I don't really remember much, just falling and hitting the ground and you landing beside me. Then I heard Envy screaming for dad." Al's eyes were large and scared at the memory.

"I remember going to the gate. Envy went through first before I tried to get you back." Ed's head dropped to look at his hands.

"Does that mean we're _inside_ the gate?" His brother said incredulously.

"To tell the truth I really don't know." He could remember very little about it but was almost certain he remembered going _through_ something. It was all so blurry though, almost as if his memories had been distorted. The silence stretched uncomfortably. Al finally broke it.

"What should we do now brother?" He asked in a small voice.

"Well we should probably find out where we are and thank the people who brought us here." He gave his brother an encouraging smile and patted his brothers shoulder with his metal hand and swung his legs from the futon he was resting on to place mismatched feet on the floorboards. "We should also talk to them and find out what's going on, it seemed like they were trying to fight Envy and I want to know why. Come on Al"

He lifted himself from the palette and opened the door. When he stepped into the common area all conversation stopped and four pairs of eyes met theirs.

"Well it's good to see you're up and about." The older man said with a half smile. Ed wanted to get a good look at him but was having trouble since the green and white hat he was wearing shaded his eyes, giving the older blonde man an air of mystery. "I'm Urahara. Come, sit, would you like some tea?" Ed's thoughts were all but forgotten in the offering of a hot beverage.

"Yeah thanks, and thanks for back there too." Ed said with a smile and they both took a seat between the dark haired kid with glasses and the orange spiky haired one. "Sorry I don't really remember much, what were your names again?"

"You don't remember because you were unconscious brother." Al chimed in inelegantly. Jeez did he have to bring up his moment of weakness in front of everyone? Well not that it mattered since they probably had to carry him from wherever they were to wherever they are now.

"It's no big deal." The redhead with the ponytail and facial tattoos stated nonchalantly. "I'm Renji" He said pumping a thumb towards his chest. "The dark haired kid is Uryuu, that's Ichigo over there and the hat man is Urahara. It's his shop we brought you to." He said as he pointed the same thumb in each direction of said person.

"I'm Ed and this is my brother Al." He gave a smile to each before accepting the tea from Urahara. The sharp astringent scent of green tea lifted to his nostrils and he inhaled deeply before taking a small sip. It was really quite good.

"So do you live around here?" The older man asked as he passed a similar cup to his brother, nodding in thanks.

"No I don't think so." He said looking into the depths of his teacup. The older man gave him an appraising look before responding.

"Ok then." The man could tell Ed was keeping something from him but thankfully let the situation lie, instead changing tactics and bringing up another subject that immediately had Ed on edge. "I need to ask you about that hollow that knocked the building down, the one we found you near. You said it had a name?" Ed gritted his teeth.

"Yeah it has a name, Envy. He's bad news. Why do you want to know about him anyways?" Ed gave the older man a calculating look. _Let's see what this guy knows._

"Well the hollow – Envy has some interesting gifts that I would like to know more about. Like for instance how it can hide its reiatsu and change form." His arms folded against his chest and gave Ed a pointed look.

"Reiatsu? Whats that?" Ed said in hopes of stalling the conversation a bit more. Explaining to random strangers what a Homunculus was and how it's born not being one of Ed's funnest conversations.

"Reiatsu is kind of like a spiritual pressure. Every living thing has it whether it's strong or weak. The spiritual pressure in you two must be pretty high if you could see these two in their spirit forms and see the hollow. The thing is this creature can mask its spiritual pressure which is something I have never heard of. Since it sounds like you two know this creature, or at least its name I'm hoping you might be able to give me a hand in figuring out what its doing."

Ed sighed heavily and gave his brother a long look. He had almost forgotten how short he was, and he actually had looked upwards to catch his brother's eye but then looked down to find the two pools of smoky quartz worried and unsure.

"He's looking for our dad." Al said heavily. "That's the name he was calling out. Hoenheim. He hates him and heard that our father had come through –um – came through this area which is why he's here."

"That's why we're here too." Ed looked up from his half drunk tea to look up at the shaded eyes of the older man.

"What does he want with your father?" The orange spiky haired guy named Ichigo asked.

"He wants to kill him." Ed said meeting the bronze eyes. "He's been wanting to kill him for a long time. When he heard that this might be where he was Envy took the fastest route here… And we followed." He swallowed thickly; the tea was now sitting uncomfortably in Ed's stomach. He didn't feel he needed to mention the fact that he had gone to the underground city in order to get his brother back or the small issue of Envy pretty much killing him and his brother pulling him back from the darkness of death only to have to do the same for him. Ed didn't really want to think about it either honestly

"So you're on a mission then? I mean to stop that dick from killing your dad?" Renji said, looking him over with assessing eyes.

"Yeah. Envy needs to be stopped; no one is safe with him around. Once we stop him we'll just…" Ed paused in mid sentence. What _was_ going to happen after? First he needed to figure out where they were before making any further plans. "Where is this place anyways?" Ed said looking around.

"This is my shop. You're in Karakura town." Urahara gave him a quizzical look.

"Karakura huh?" He hid his face in his tea trying to deal with his racing thoughts. The last time he went through the gate he ended up in some place called London, not Karakura so there is a possibility that they may have not gone through the gate but instead were thrown from it to a small town in Amestris or something. That thought made him feel a little better but still didn't help to dispel the earlier comments of hollows, reiatsu and spiritual pressure.

"Where exactly is Karakura then?" The question seemed to unnerve the kid with glasses.

"It's in Japan" Uryuu said. "Where are you from?" The question was asked again.

"Central City, Amestris." He looked up in hopes that they would know the name but the strangers around the table looked confused.

"Amestris? Never heard of it. Or Central City." Urahara said. He was giving a confused look out from under his hat. _This is not good. Not good at all_. An uncomfortable feeling started working its way through Ed. _No one here has even heard of Ametris here and we're not in London either. _He gave his brother a sidelong look, he seemed ill at the information they had just uncovered. The only option he could think of is that they had actually gone through the gate but if this wasn't London then where the hell were they! Does that mean the gate could open into other places? That had Ed's mouth drying out with the possibility that there could be hundreds, even THOUSANDS of entryways and exits. How the hell were they going to get home!

"So when you stop this Envy thing does that mean you're going home to wherever this… Amestris is?" Ichigo asked as he looked between Ed and his brother.

"Honestly I don't even know if that's possible anymore." He looked into his teacup again. It was getting cold, the warmth from the half filled cup now barely even a luke warm. What were they to do? Bring the gate back and just saunter through its doors? In order to do that Ed would have to compromise almost every moral and personal code he had. The only way to open that gate would be another human transmutation... Or use a baby like Dante did and that thought had him shuddering and feeling nauseous again. That was now the least of their worries anyways. Once the gate was open he couldn't be sure that where they ended up would actually be home. The anger, fear and frustration bubbled up under his breastbone, coursing through his veins and his hands clenched. The cup in his hands cracked, a thin line of porcelain breaking off to land on the tabletop. What little tea there was left spilling onto the table.

"Shit. Sorry about that." Ed said quietly.

"Don't worry about it. Here, let me get you another cup." Urahara made a motion to get up but Ed stopped him.

"Don't worry about it; I'll fix it for you." He clapped his hands, felt the swirling alchemic reaction through his palms and gently came to rest them on the table, the broken cup fitting comfortably in the centre. A small crackle and a soft blue light surrounded the cup, unable to see it as the alchemy took its course. After a moment the cup came back into view uncracked and even the tea that had spilled on the table was back in its place. He looked up with a small smile only to have it wiped from his face and a sinking feeling unlike any other fill him.

Four pairs of eyes were staring at the fixed cup, looks ranging from shock to open astonishment. The redhead Renji pulled his eyes away from the cup to look at Ed with wide eyes.

"What… Was _that_?"

~TBC~

* * *

~Symphonyofsilence

Ok please let me know what you think!


	2. Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

Hello everyone this is chapter 2 of through the looking glass. Sorry it was so late in coming, life has a habit of getting in the way of such things as creativity sometimes lol.

This chappie is a little shorter than the last one but dont worry, the next one should be larger :)

Now without further ado...

* * *

Ichigo was staring and in shock but right now he didn't much care. He had never seen anything like this before and openly gaped at the fixed cup before him, his mouth hanging slightly open.

"What… was _that_?" He heard Renji ask in an awed, shocked voice. Ichigo looked up then to see the two boys' faces fall, a sinking fear and unease in both their faces. Ed had actually gone pale at the comment, his gold eyes darkening to an amber color as the shadow of his bangs hung before his eyes when his head lowered.

"It's Alchemy. You've never heard of it?" Al asked in a small voice as he looked timidly between Renji, Uryuu, Urahara and Ichigo.

"I have definitely never heard of this alchemy before." Urahara said. He was looking at Ed now; his all seeing eyes were trying to figure out what the hell just happened as much as Ichigo was. He could tell that Urahara was visibly uncomfortable with what just happened. To be honest since the three had brought the boys to the shop Urahara hadn't changed his expression all that much since. He usually kept his face blank and serious when he was thinking of something but apparently the two boys bothered him enough to break his mask. That was something that bothered Ichigo. Not many people could change that man's countenance, Yoruichi being the only one he could really think of, and even then it was only for a small second before the face became impenetrable again.

"What's Alchemy?" Uryuu asked, the small lines in his forehead deepening in confusion. His tone was light but everyone could hear the piercing undertone.

"Alchemy is a science. It's based on equivalent exchange." Al said as he turned his own teacup nervously between his hands, avoiding Uryuu's eye.

"Equivalent exchange? Since when can you make a science out of that?" Renji asked. Ed sighed and Ichigo could see another long look was shared between the two brothers. After a moment Al squared his shoulders and looked up to meet eyes with Renji.

"Alchemy is a science based on the belief that humankind cannot gain anything without giving something in return, its Alchemy's first law. In order to create, something of equal value must be lost. In order to make an alchemic reaction, like Ed just did, you need to first identify the properties of the item you are about to change, break it down and finally rebuild it. It's usually done with circles but Ed found a way to do it without one." Al gave his brother a small smile and looked back to the group. It was said with a sort of detachment, as if he was teaching a class of children or something.

"Ok so your saying that you figured out what that cup was made out of then just… made a new one?" Ichigo asked. _How the heck does that even work?_ It made absolutely no sense to him.

"Pretty much yeah." Ed looked up to catch Ichigo's eye and for a moment he was surprised at the intelligence found in the gold orbs. They reminded him somehow of Hitsugaya.

"Is this Alchemy widely practiced where you're from?" Uryuu asked, dark blue eyes looking pointedly at Ed.

"Not overly since it takes a lot of skill to do but enough for the military to have a branch for it. Unfortunately I was a part of it for a time since I can do alchemy without circles. I even had my own name and rank, Major Edward Elric, The Fullmetal Alchemist." Ed said with a wry sad smile. Ichigo noticed that when he mentioned that he was once part of the military an all too familiar shadow seemed to cross his face. _This kid has seen death. I know he has._ The thought came unbidden to his mind but once there it couldn't be denied. The hard eyes with pain and heartbreak so close, hidden by a thin veil of determination… Now that he looked closely it seemed both these boys had the look. It was like a desperate survival seemed to quietly radiate from both their young frames.

He tried to shake the looks from his head and smiled as a secondary thought came to him.

"Wait so you're saying that you're a higher rank than Renji?" Ichigo said, trying not to laugh into his hand. Renji's temper flared at that.

"There is no way this shrimp is higher ranking than me! Besides it's a different system entirely!" Renji said looking disdainfully over his shoulder as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Who the fuck are you calling so short he can't see over this table?!" Ed yelled rather loudly. The group all turned to stare wide eyed at the outburst.

"That's not what he said brother." Al rested a hand on his brothers forearm in hopes of calming him down but Ichigo was sure that if looks could in fact kill, Renji would probably be dead on the floor it was so intense.

"Well you don't look older than 15. How did you get into the military at such a young age?" Renji stated.

"Actually brother is 17; he'll be 18 in two weeks." Al said sweetly.

"Whatever. Look thanks for the tea but we should get going. Come on Al." Ed said as he got up from his seat. Al stood up as if to leave as well.

He looked over the kid once more in a bit different light after everything he learned. Anyone who could hold such a high rank as Major would need to have not only intelligence but drive, capability and a maturity going beyond that of a normal teen. Ed was small, definitely shorter than Ichigo, if he were to stand up the guy would probably only come up to his shoulder. His hair matched his eyes, bright gold against bright gold. He almost looked like he was born from the sun he thought with a smirk, the complete opposite of the young ice captain Hitsugaya but still so strikingly familiar it was almost eerie. He stood with confidence, the age of 17 didn't really seem right for this kid, the stance, the way he dodged questions extremely well; it was like he had an intellect that belied his age.

"Do you have a place to stay in town?" Urahara asked looking between the two. Ed's face fell at that, anger fading at the question.

"Not really, no."

"Well if you like you can stay here. Call it 'equivalent exchange' if you like since you fixed my cup." Urahara said with a half smile, eyes gleaming amusement from under the shadow of his hat. Ichigo wanted to say that the cup was originally broken by the exact person he was now opening the Shoten to but decided to keep his mouth shut. He could understand Urahara not wanting them to leave quite yet.

"Are you sure Mr. Urahara?" Al asked

"It's just Urahara, and yeah I don't mind. We both have similar goals anyways. You want to stop this Envy character and so do we. It makes sense to pool our resources don't you think?" He pulled a fan from out of his pocket and opened it, fanning himself lightly even though it wasn't all that hot inside.

"Alright I guess. Thanks Urahara." Ed said and nodded once in acknowledgement of the man.

"No problem. It's getting late now but tomorrow we should have the whole group meet up and maybe formulate a plan to catch this hollow. Uryuu, Ichigo, make sure everyone stops by the shop afterschool tomorrow."

"Sure we can do that." Ichigo said as he stood to leave. Urahara was right, daylight was fading and the sky, once a soft light blue was now turning a deep purple and stars were starting to dot the sky.

"I should get going as well. It was nice to meet you both." Uryuu said as he got up to stand by Ichigo.

"Nice to meet you too, and thank you both for the help earlier today." Al said with a bright smile.

"No problem Al, and see you later… Fullmetal." Ichigo said with a half smile as he turned to leave.

Once out of the shop he and Uryuu started walking home. Usually they would be taunting each other with stupid comments and getting into a heated argument but this time they actually had something to talk about.

"Those kids just don't seem right." Uryuu said softly, head lowered in thought so his eyes hid behind a curtain of raven bangs.

"I know what you mean." Ichigo said quietly.

"The spiritual pressure they give off, and when Ed made that Alchemic reaction… It feels different somehow."

"Even I noticed that and I suck at that stuff." Ichigo gave a wry smile to the young archer. Uryuu's eyes lighted in amusement.

"Well if the likes of you can notice it then you can be sure Urahara did."

"Shut up" He said instinctively at the little jab, falling into argument with Uryuu was as natural as breathing these days. "But you're probably right; I bet that's why Hat and sandals asked them to stay."

"I personally wouldn't mind keeping them close either. There's just something about them…"

"You mentioned that already." Ichigo said as he gave a sarcastic look to the young archer. Uryuu flushed slightly but covered it quickly with a withering look.

"Because it's a good point Kurosaki, that's why I keep bringing it up." Uryuu said derisively

"Well you don't have to keep repeating yourself like a forgetful old lady."

"I am not an old lady and I would appreciate you not making that kind of insinuation." Uryuu's chest puffed a bit at the comment and feeling slightly stung.

"I can insinuate all I want." Ichigo's brow furrowed momentarily. He knew this question would probably mean endless time with Uryuu telling him he was an idiot but swallowed his pride and asked "Um… What does insinuate mean?"

"You're really hopeless, you know that right?" The smile was genuine this time and Uryuu shook his head slowly from side to side. They came to a familiar fork in the road and stopped momentarily.

"Yeah I know. Whatever, I'm going this way. See you tomorrow Ishida."

"Yeah tomorrow." Uryuu said quietly before turning his own way home.

* * *

Urahara didn't like surprises. Sure he liked the little ones like someone bringing him an extra doughnut when they came back from the store or an old friend stopping by to say hello. The surprise he felt when Ed, sitting directly across the table from him had fixed the cup was a surprise he did not like one little bit. The kid had shown some kind of frustration in talking about getting home and broken his teacup. Instead of gluing it back together or buying him a new one he simply clapped his hands, placed them between the broken item and then it happened.

Spiritual pressure unlike anything he had ever felt surged through the room like an electrical current, he could feel it buzzing against his skin, like if you stood too close to a large power line. He could actually feel some kind of elemental change happening between the gloved hands and when the blue light faded and the crackles died out the cup was completely fixed and looked as pristine as when he first got it, the porcelain shining as if it had never been used. If he had suspicions about the two before, it was nothing compared to how he felt now.

To put it simply, he didn't like it. The energy that reaction gave off just felt… Well wrong. It was almost as if the energy simply didn't fit within the confines of the living world OR Soul Society. There wasn't any reiatsu manipulation to create the reaction, no reishi was used, hell he couldn't even compare it to Orihime's gift of rejection or Chad's ability of armor and that was what really and truly stumped him. When the story finally came out that the two boys had nowhere to go Urahara offered for them to stay at the shop. More for keeping them close to find out more about them than anything else.

He sat in his workroom now, working on one of his new inventions but not really working on it. The hour was late and he knew he should be sleeping but he also knew that if he lay in his bed all he would be doing is staring at the ceiling thinking about earlier. Now he went over his thoughts, bringing together all the things that he had learned about the two blonde strangers now tucked snugly in one of the back rooms of his shop, hoping to maybe piece this mess together so that it might make some sort of sense.

He was told the two were found on some roof of a building. Not that unusual all things considered but it was an office building they were found on and there is no way two kids under 20 were in middle management, for that was the only way they would have been able to have the keys needed in order to get past the locked doors leading to the roof. Ed had a metal arm called 'automail' that seemed to be some kind of prosthesis but unlike any he had seen before. The movement he had with his arm was amazing! When he had gotten up to head back to the room Urahara had noticed that his left foot sported the same metal. The reaction the two boys gave when they found out where they were was definitely off too, they both looked sick at the realization of where they were, as if they had never even heard of Japan and he was certain he had never heard of this Amestris before either.

The comment of Ed being in the military bothered him as well. What kind of system would allow for a teenager to become a high ranking officer like a Major? He thought about that for a moment but eventually shook his head. Hitsugaya was a captain in soul society so who's to say that it couldn't happen in another military faction? Hitsugaya was a prodigy though, a once in a lifetime situation which opened up the possibility that Ed may be one too. It was unlikely but not impossible, all things considered.

Then there was the hollow situation and sure enough those two were connected to that as well. This hollow, by the explanation Uryuu had given him was just a normal hollow, maybe a bit stronger than the usual considering it could talk but the mask was complete. But the ability to change form _and_ mask its reiatsu though?! No hollow could do that, not even an Arrancar! He was also told that the two knew its name, some strange name called Envy. Normal hollows never really hunted for a specific individual usually, just aiming blindly for certain types of spirit pressure and feeding off of it but this one was searching for their father, which begged the question _why_.

"Damn it." Urahara said quietly and pushed the contraption he was pretending to work on out of the way then rubbed at his temples with his fingers. The hollow and the two boys were definitely connected but he wasn't sure how quite yet and he glared down at the coffee stain on his work desk as if it were the sole reason for his problems. It was like these things were all part of some puzzle that he didn't have all the pieces to, taunting him with its incomplete picture that couldn't be made out yet. Not for the first time his fingers twitched for the research and development computer system in section 12 of the seireitei. He needed more information, not only about the hollow but about this Alchemy. He sighed heavily. There was nothing for it he thought dejectedly; he would have to talk to Yoruichi about this situation. If she still held strong ties with Soi Fon, Captain of Squad two's Special Forces they might be able to at least get some kind of information, even if it was only second hand. It was too late to call tonight but first thing in the morning he would have to contact her. He disliked using their friendship this way but he had no other options.

He sighed again and stretched. He felt a little better now that he had a plan of action, however small it may be. He lifted himself from his work desk chair and left the room, heading for his bed, knowing full well he still probably still wouldn't be able to sleep.

* * *

Ed lay on his futon for the second time that day staring at the low ceiling. He could hear his brothers soft even breathing and knew he was asleep. He wished sleep would come for him but the thoughts running rampant through his head had kept him up long after his body had given in to exhaustion from the last 48 hours. He wondered idly if he would ever sleep well again. Probably not with the situation they had found themselves in now.

He was certain they were on the other side of the gate now, the only problem being that the other side was not where he had landed the first time. When he had gotten back to Amestris after landing in some place called London it was instinctual, he had simply clapped his hands and done it but here, now in this place he was unsure if that would work in order to bring both him and his brother back. The more he thought about it the more he was sure that this was not the place the gate was supposed to open up to.

There were two things that differed through the second journey; Envy had pushed open the door and gone through yelling for the gate to send him to Hoenheim of light and then there was the fight of pulling Al through. That would mean, in all observable fashions, the most likely way to get back would be to throw Envy through first and then run in with Al and just see what happens. He shuddered at that, a cold chill running down his spine. It wasn't like some innocent train ride across the country or something, it was a life and death situation where he didn't know what would be taken from him and there would be no guarantee where he would end up or even IF he would end up anywhere at all. If worse came to worst they could end up floating inside the gate for all eternity with no way out, that's what Dante had tried to do to his dad. Then there was Al. Bringing him through that gate again made his breath come short, an almost sob lodging somewhere in his chest. How could he do that to his little brother after everything he had put him through? If they didn't try though they may never see home again and that was something he couldn't live with.

Home. That one little word made his heart ache and a lump form in his throat. What if he couldn't figure out a way to bring them back? He would never see the blue skies of Risembool again, never yell at Winry after she threw a wrench at him, never roll his eyes at Armstrong while he talked about his impressive family line and never get a chance to smack that enraging sardonic smirk off of Mustangs face. He swallowed thickly and rolled over. It seemed like this was his lot in life, always straining for that unattainable goal. First bringing back his mother, then the quest for returning his brothers body back to him, finding the philosophers stone, destroying the homunculi and now this. He hoped that this quest would not end like so many others had, in bloodshed, heartbreak and pain.

Ed didn't really like pity parties and shook himself a little at the realization that he was starting wallow. He needed a plan. That's what always kept him going. _First things first_ he thought, _I need to find Envy_. That was no simple task though; Envy was on his own quest to find his dad. Since Ed knew from his father that he was stuck in London in some other world Envy's search would be fruitless. Once Envy figured that out he would probably come looking for Ed and his brother. So really the only thing he could do was keep himself ready for the fight he knew would eventually come to him. That would mean training. Al knew how to fight but the body he was in now was much smaller and not honed to the type of fighting they had learned when sensei had taught them. They would need to spar then. He smiled a little at that. Maybe he could actually beat his brother this time. The guys with swords, Renji and Ichigo – they could probably help in getting Ed's and Al's reflexes back up to par as well. No one carried swords around without knowing how to use them, and the thought of sparring with someone new would definitely help the mind funk he was trying to avoid. Heck he might even be able to show those guys a thing or two about fighting.

He sighed a little and looked back to the ceiling, feeling a little better.

"This time Envy, I'll be ready." He said quietly before sleep finally took him.

* * *

~Symphonyofsilence


	3. Curiouser and Curiouser

Hello everyone and thanks for sticking with me on this story and thank you to everyone who has reviewed!

Ok just a little personal drabble here, I know that Al always calls his brother Nii-san but since I am writing in English I decided to stick with him calling Ed 'brother' instead. If Rukia ever mentions Byakuya she will probably do the same. Taichou and fuku-taichou will probably be used though since it sounds way cooler than 'captain' and 'vice captain' or 'lieutenant'. (why does japanese have to sound so much cooler than my own language?!)

Also there may be mentions of same sex relationships in this story, please don't flame me for them, I personally believe love is love. If you don't thats your choice. If you do... well then read on!

Also this is unbeta'd so if there are any mistakes gomen

Now without further ado...

* * *

The morning came all too soon for Ed and he hated dragging himself out of bed and the comfort of warm sheets to a lukewarm shower and a crowded kitchen. Truthfully he was never a morning person but Al had always been one, and Ed never missed the fact that his brother loved to wake him up in the mornings with the happiest voice, making him that much more grumpy. The two brothers shared breakfast with the people living at the shoten and Ed had to dodge some very interesting questions from Urahara before retreating back to their room.

Once there Al had asked what happened when he was thrown into the gate by Dante and with a heavy heart Ed supplied Al with what had happened. He listened with wide eyes about Hoenheim and what place he was thrown into, the war on their father's side of the gate and how the energy from alchemy was being used there for war. He explained what their father was and what he had seen, the rotting flesh on his father's arm, so like gangrene yet deeper, like his soul was rotting his body from the inside out. How the body Ed had slipped into died with the aircraft crashing down on him and his instinctual return to the gate.

Al nodded numbly and when Ed finished his story Al filled him in on what he missed when he was on the other side of the gate. He told Ed of how Dante destroyed what little was left of gluttony's humanity, how he had tried to eat him – alive - just to get the philosophers stone. By the time each were finished their explanations they both felt heavier, sadder but Ed lifted his chin and smiled, telling his brother it would be ok, that he would find them a way home, no matter what.

That afternoon they were asked to join Urahara in the common area and when they came in they were met with a large group of people. Ed noticed that Ichigo, Renji, Uryuu and Urahara was there but there were new people now, a girl with long red hair and a bright smile whose name was Orihime. There was a huge tan skinned guy that looked similar to an Ishvalan but his eyes were brown, not red, with shaggy dark hair by the name of Chad. A girl sat next to him that was slender and dark with the most vibrant violet eyes Ed had ever seen by the name of Rukia. He took a seat around the cramped table with his brother close beside him and nodded to the hat man in acknowledgement.

"Now that everyone's here we can get down to business." Urahara announced, tapping his hand on the large round table to get everyone's attention and the light conversation died down and an air of business-like professionalism settled on the group. Ed was surprised to feel it, hell it barely even happened when he was working for the military but this small group seemed to pull together rather quickly.

"What business is that?" Orihime asked, her violet-grey eyes were wide and bright with curiosity.

"My guess is the hollow." Ichigo responded in a bored tone as he leaned his elbows on the table.

"Obviously it's the hollow Kurosaki, what else would we be meeting here for?" Uryuu countered sharply and almost elbowed Ichigo in the ribs as he lifted his hand and pushed his glasses back up his nose with a huffy look on his face.

"You know you don't have to be an asshole _every_ time you open your mouth." Ichigo snapped.

"I'm not being an asshole, I'm simply being observant. You should work on it some time." Uryuu glared at the redhead. Ed was starting to get the feeling that this was a normal occurrence between these two and watched with growing amusement as Ichigo bristled at the jab Uryuu gave him.

"I am observant! I probably know what's going on more tha-"

"Hey! Both of you just shut the hell up for a minute! Urahara you can finish what you were going to say." Renji cut both Ichigo and Uryuu's devolving conversation off with a hard look at the both of them, then turned to the blonde hat-clad man.

"Thanks Renji. Uryuu and Ichigo are right; we do have a hollow issue." Urahara looked pointedly at the faces surrounding the table from under the darkness of his striped hat. His mouth was set in a hard line and his posture was set and almost tense.

"What's the problem Urahara?" Chad asked in his smooth baritone.

"This one has a name, by the explanation I received from our two new friends here it's almost arrancar class so it can talk but the mask is still whole so it's not quite as strong - which is good - but from the explanation these three gave me yesterday it can mask its reiatsu – which is bad."

Rukia swiveled her head to land wide, shocked violet eyes on Urahara. "Wait your saying that there is a hollow out there that can mask its reiatsu?!" Shock and concern could easily be heard in her confident alto voice.

"Unfortunately yes and the situation gets worse I'm afraid. It can also change form." Urahara flitted a steely glance to Ed for the quickest moment; it was gone so fast Ed was almost unsure it even happened.

"Has there ever been anything like this before Urahara?" Orihime asked worriedly.

"Not that I know of." The older man shook his head a little. "Yoruichi is checking into it for me to see if we can get more information." He said with an airy wave of his hand and Orihime's eyes lit up.

"Well that part is good. If Yoruichi comes by to visit do you think she will be in her kitty form? She's always so soft and cuddly when she is." The redhead clasped her hands in front of her and sighed happily with a dreamy smile on her face. Ed shook his head a little and looked to his brother and saw a bemused expression marring his young features.

"Did she just say 'kitty form'?" Ed asked confidentially to his brother.

"I think this place is a lot weirder than we first thought." Al replied quietly.

"Urahara have you finished your reiatsu finder? This would be the perfect time to use it if it's done." Rukia queried. Urahara's lips thinned even more and gave another glance to Ed and Al, effectively cutting off their private conversation.

"Unfortunately not. The mechanics are a lot trickier than I had originally thought but I'm still working on it. Truth be told I don't even know if it would work on this hollow." He murmured and pulled a fan from the folds of his green haori, then tapped it absently against his chin.

"How come?" Chad inquired, leaning back on his hands.

"I have a feeling that Envy – That's what the hollow is calling itself by the way – has a different reiatsu than anything we have experienced before."

"Ok so you're saying that Envy can not only mask its reiatsu but it can talk, change form, and has a signature unlike anything we have ever encountered before. Is there anything else you would like to tell us about this thing? Perhaps the ability to read minds or x-ray vision or something?" Rukia folded her arms across her chest and gave the blonde man a withering look.

"You've been reading Kurosaki's comics again haven't you?" Uryuu asked in an arch tone, giving the dark haired girl a depreciating eye. Rukia shrugged and her lips turned up in an amused smile.

"Only the interesting ones. I have to keep up on the living world literature." Uryuu rolled his eyes and looked as if he was going to respond but Urahara quickly took the conversation back up before another argument could ensue.

"Those are the basics of the situation. Ed would you like to fill us in on the rest?" Urahara landed shadowed grey eyes on Ed. The young blonde gave a heaving sigh and lifted his head to address the group.

"He's also looking for our dad. His name is Hoenheim. He isn't here though, that much we know for certain." Ed exchanged a quick look with Al. The caramel head nodded in agreement at the comment and squared his shoulders.

"It's true, Envy thought he came through here, which is why he's looking for him in Karakura. We don't know if he knows we're here yet but if he figures it out…" Al's voice trailed off, the insinuation clear. Rukia looked sharply at Ed and Al. For a moment Ed noticed light blue flecks reflected in the intelligent purple orbs of her eyes.

"So that makes you two a target." She stated in a matter of fact tone that sounded so much like Hawkeye his heart gave a little pang at the sound of it, reminding him once again how far from home they truly were.

"Pretty much." Ed nodded in agreement. "We're not useless though. We both know how to fight and I've fought things like him before and defeated them. If I have to I will do it again." He flexed his automail hand under the table. He knew what had to be done, and he would make sure he would do it this time.

"You've fought hollows and destroyed them before?" Orihime's bright voice brought him back to the present and he frowned a little.

"I keep hearing that word, hollows. What is it?" He asked. Urahara gave Ed a measuring look before responding.

"Hollows are spirits that used to be human but for some reason or another have turned evil and destructive. They prey on good spirits and are attracted to high levels of reiatsu. That's why Shinigami –like Renji, Rukia and Ichigo here were created, to destroy and purify the hollows." Ed nodded in understanding and lowered his head in thought.

_Spirits that used to be human_. That sounded like Envy but he wasn't a spirit, he was the opposite in fact, merely the shell of a human body with a non-human soul. There was the possibility that when Envy went through the gate some kind of change may have happened - no it must have happened Ed corrected himself. The body that Envy was housed in when he first laid eyes on him after going through the gate and landing on the rooftop was definitely not the body Envy had originally. It was huge, black and masked with a gaping hole through his chest… Ed fought off a shiver at the memory of it.

"Quincys also destroy hollows but our power is different than the shinigami." Uryuu offered and lifted his chin a bit, giving him an aloof air, Ed noticed that Ichigo beside him rolled his eyes and placed his chin in his hands. Uryuu saw the movement as well but decidedly ignored it. "We create bows and arrows through reishi – spirit particles in the air. We draw it through us and form them into arrows. I noticed you said that you destroyed these things before. Might I ask how that was done?"

"Through alchemy, and we've found that bringing a piece of their original bodies near them weakens their strength, making them easier to kill." Ed replied.

"Original… bodies?" Orihime's voice sounded faint. When he met her eyes she looked shocked and disturbed at what she had heard. He could sense Al shrugging his shoulders at the question beside him.

"I know it's disturbing but it's the only way it could be done." Al said in an almost pleading tone. Just talking about this reminded him of Greed, Lust and… _her_. The one he had to destroy, his sin, his failure. He would never forget it, never could. He swallowed thickly at the all too painful memory.

"How many times have you used this… procedure?" Urahara asked sharply.

"Enough times to know it works." Ed muttered, keeping a steady eye on the clasped mismatched hands in his lap. He sighed again and rubbed the frustration lines forming between his brows with his left hand. "Look this isn't what we should be focusing on; we need to get a plan together so we can find Envy." He needed to get off this topic. Now.

"Well we can step up patrols. That and keep you two under tight surveillance. If Envy has a grudge against your dad and he's not here it would make sense that you two would be the next target, especially if you know where he is." Renji said. Ed looked up into the dark glint of the redheads eye and narrowed his own at the comment.

"We don't need to be protected like some kind of helpless children! This was our damn fight to begin with." Ed used his Major's voice, brooking no argument with his sharp tone and thumped his metal fist on the table for emphasis, making Orihime and Chad jump a little at the outward aggression.

"Besides we can probably help." Al added kindly.

"Does that mean you have a piece of his…" Ichigo trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence.

"No, which makes things a lot trickier." Al responded, giving Ichigo a thoughtful look. "His original body was used when he was created so there's nothing left to weaken him. By the explanation we got from Dante-"

"Al." Ed said in a harsh whisper, cutting off any further information Al may have given. They had already decided that morning on keeping as much of their story to themselves as possible. Explaining to these people what homunculi were was not something he wanted to do. It would mean not only explaining the intricacies of the taboo human transmutation but it would also open up the possibility of how they had gotten here, and he wasn't ready for that conversation, not when there were so many of his own questions still unanswered.

Al winced and dipped his head in apology to his brother.

"Oh right, sorry brother. We don't really have a way to destroy him, not right now at least. It would have to be completely through alchemy this time. Do you think we could do it brother?" Al looked to Ed, hope, worry and fear warring for dominance on his young face. It was still strange, seeing those old eyes reflecting back so much life through the child-like body of his younger brother. Ed could feel his features harden at the question his brother asked.

"We'll have to." Ed put a cold hard note into those words, penetrating through the group surrounding the table and for a long moment there was complete silence.

"You two and I will need to have a little conversation later." Urahara commented quietly to Ed before he turned a good-natured smile on the people surrounding the table, flipping open the fan in his hand and fanning himself with an artistic flick of his wrist. "Ok so patrols will have to be made more often, Renji you take the mornings while these guys are in school, Rukia and Orihime you two can take the afternoon shift. Ichigo, Chad and Uryu, you three will need to work on a plan to bring more of the town into your evening patrols. If anything unusual happens make sure to report back here as soon as you can."

"What about us?" Ed asked. Urahara gave him a thoughtful look before responding but Ed was pretty damn sure the man had already made up his mind about what he was going to do with them.

"hmm. I would prefer you two stay here." The fan lifted to cover the lower half of Urahara's face, probably in an attempt to cover the man's emotions Ed thought darkly.

_I'm not dancing through your hoops like I did with Colonel Mustang._ Ed thought to himself.

"We can't just stay here doing Fuck all!" Ed exclaimed in annoyance.

"What if we help with the patrols?" Al offered, looking from person to person using his puppy-dog eyes that always had Ed giving in. Ichigo shrugged and shared a look between Chad, Renji and Uryuu.

"I don't mind if one of these guys comes with me. It would probably be a good idea anyways; they can get to know the town." Ichigo suggested in a laid back tone. Uryuu nodded in agreement.

"It would probably be beneficial for everyone involved if they became acquainted with Karakura. If we do find Envy they will know where to go." Uryuu's hand lifted to his chin in thought, nodding lightly at the idea. Urahara seemed unimpressed at the direction of the conversation but replied amiably enough.

"Fine. Ed you can go with Ichigo. Al, how would you feel about working with Uryuu?"

"That sounds fine, thanks for letting me help." Al replied, giving the older blonde one of his trademark grins.

"This could work." Ed murmured, almost to himself. It would leave time in the mornings for Ed and Al to spar, get their game up for the possible altercation with Envy, and not only that but he would also get the lay of the land with this place, which would definitely be a good idea for both Ed and Al. He didn't really like the idea of splitting him and Al up but realistically it would suit them well for the situation currently at hand. What Ichigo wouldn't show him, Uryuu probably would show Al, and once back they could both de-brief each other with the information each had learned. He smiled a little to himself – _de-brief, shit it sounds like I'm still part of the military or something._

"Ok fullmetal, we're on patrol first. Gimme a minute so I can get out of my body." Ichigo said and stood up to take a few steps away from the table, then pulled a medallion of some sort out of his pants pocket. The comment was so out of sorts that Ed blinked twice and re-ran the comment through his head just to make sure he had heard it right. Before he could comment any further the copper haired teen pressed the medallion to his chest and a surge of energy shot through the room. The body fell to its knees, landing face first on the floor of the common area with an uncomfortably loud thunk. Where the body once stood Ichigo was still standing but he was wearing grass sandals, black robes and a white wrapped sword was slung across his back, just like when Ed and Al first met him.

"What… The _fuck_ just happened?!" Ed cried in alarm. Of all the things he had seen this would definitely be in the top five for freaky ass shit. Ichigo gave him an amused look and flipped the prone body on the floor over and lifted it by the armpits to drag it to the room he and Al were staying in.

"Well I can't fight hollows in human form; I need to be in shinigami form. I'm just going to put my body in here for now, that ok?" Ichigo asked.

"Did he just –" Al's voice sounded shocked and breathless.

"Yeah he just jumped out of his body." Renji replied with a smile, obviously taking enjoyment from the astonished looks Ed and Al were giving him.

"Can all of you do that?" Ed asked as Ichigo disappeared into the darkened room.

"Well Ichigo's body is the only one that's alive but yes we can." Rukia supplied when Renji sat there smiling idiotically, Ed was sure he was enjoying the fact that they had got one up on him for the alchemy-cup incident. "I can do it as well as Renji and Urahara. Our human bodies are a little different though, their artificial and called gigais. Orihime, Chad and Uryuu are completely human though."

"I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing that." Ed's voice still sounded shocked, even to himself and shook a little, then stood up as Ichigo came back from the room.

"Heh that's what I thought at first too." Ichigo said as closed the door and stretched a little, reaching his arms behind his head so that his arms almost reached to the ceiling. "You get used to it though. Come on, my patrol usually takes a few hours and its already getting dark." Ichigo waved a hand in invitation for Ed to follow.

"Whatever. I'll be back soon Al." He gave his brother a smile and followed in the direction of the black clad teen.

"No problem, see you soon brother." He heard Al say before he left the shop.

One thing was for certain, Ed was definitely not in Amestris anymore.

* * *

If there was one thing Soi Fon prided herself on it was finding out things people didn't want her to know without them even knowing about it. Information and secrets was an important commodity in her line of work and after the incident with Aizen she had made sure to know the comings and goings of all seated officers up to Captain rank in order to make sure that if anything like that happened again not only would she know about it but she would stop it before any further downward spirals ensued… In the most silent and deadly way possible. She had been raised to kill, raised to be that silent stalker hidden in the mist, there and gone again in the blink of an eye. It came as second nature to her now after all these centuries. She allowed herself a little smile as she crouched in her small hiding place, masking her reiatsu in the darkness until that perfect moment.

It was late afternoon, almost time for the workday to end. It would work well for her. The shadows would pull with the setting of the sun, giving her extra access in hiding her form. She hid near the building she was waiting so intently on and from her vantage point she could still see the main street and watched the people passing in their daily routine in Seireitei. She saw Kuchiki-Taichou turning the corner from his 6th Division headquarters to head home, the strength of his reiatsu brushing against her senses like a cool spring afternoon. Like always his back was ramrod straight and his chin was strong, maybe just a touch too high for his own good and his eyelids were pulled low over his eyes to give him that extra air of aristocratic apathy. She could set her watch to that mans daily routine she mused to herself, knowing that at this exact time every week he left his offices a little early to work on the paperwork for the Kuchiki household.

Another reiatsu brushed at her senses, this one filled with a flickering anticipation and it didn't take long for the 8th Division captain to come into view, his pink Kimono catching the breeze and a lazy smile on his face. Shunsui-Taichou was heading in the direction of the 13th Division which meant another secret late afternoon tryst with Ukitake-Taichou. When the white haired Captain was feeling well enough they usually snuck off together, forming some kind of excuse for their little romantic getaways. She wondered for a moment if they would ever tell anyone of their secret relationship but mentally shook her head. They were both professional men wanting to keep their personal lives to themselves so it would make sense that they would not want people to get the wrong idea about them. Besides she was quite sure they liked it this way, no one put that much effort in to hiding a relationship the way those two did without there being a reason for it. It probably kept an air of secrecy and fun about their relationship when it was behind closed doors. She watched as the pink kimono disappeared from her line of sight and went back to her waiting game.

If she was correct in her assumptions – which she usually was – it wouldn't take much longer for the one she was waiting for to rear his ugly head. This one's movements were hard to trace and he had been under her observant eye the longest. There was always something about him that just bothered her. He was too slick, too smooth and held too many of his own dark secrets in the depths of his department. She had maybe waited ten more minutes before she saw the black and white faced captain with his demure little fuku-taichou following close behind, her head lowered in abject adoration for the one who created her. He was babbling about another one of his experiments, every once in a while throwing the young woman condescending looks out from under his ridiculous hat, hands moving expressively as he explained something to her_. Full of himself that one is_ she thought, narrowing her eyes at his retreating form. _But intelligent nonetheless_.

She watched as the 12th Division captain turned the corner and disappeared completely from sight before jumping down catlike to land noiselessly on the floor and used the shadows of the halls to her advantage as she snuck deeper into the bowels of the research and development facility. She had at best fifteen minutes before Kurotsuchi came back and she wanted to be sure to have the information needed before that time. She came to the door of the Taichou's private research computer system and pulled out her tools for the task at hand. She didn't want it to look as if someone had breached the premises, no one needed to know she was here and silently she slid the lock picking tools into the lock and worked them into the chinks, fitting them noiselessly into place with the ease of centuries old experience. It took only a moment before the lock turned, the tumblers falling into order with a few well practiced flicks of her wrist. She slipped inside and went straight to the computer system, plugging in the password she knew Kurotsuchi had locked the system with – that information had taken the longest to obtain - and the system came to life, characters blipping across its many screens, lighting up the darkness of the small office.

She opened up a secondary window on one of the smaller screens and accessed the research database, looking for anything of use that Yoruichi had asked about. It didn't take long before she found what she was looking for.

"Curious…" She whispered as she read over the few files she needed. It was definitely some heavy information she was reading though and for a moment she thought about printing it out but decidedly shook that idea off. No paper trail was needed; paper was evidence, and evidence always left a trail, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. She would just have to file it to memory.

When she opened the last relevant file her eyes widened in shock.

"Not possible!" She breathed and placed her hand over her mouth to still anymore sound. Her eyes narrowed in understanding as she attempted to read through all the information found within the last, and most important of all files. If what she was reading was true, Yoruichi and Urahara had a bigger problem than they originally suspected on their hands. She read though as much as possible before deciding that she had taken enough time. She closed the window down and locked the system with its password encryption before leaving the room and locking the door on her way out. She could hear a pair of footsteps fast approaching her way and slid into a shadowed doorway, holding her breath and further masking her reiatsu. At this close range she would need to focus all her energy on making sure she was still untraceable.

"…Of course Taichou, I will get to that right away." The soft voice of Nemu could be heard as she walked behind Kurotsuchi with bowed head and doey eyes.

"See that you do you stupid girl. I have been waiting for the results from this for too long." Kurotsuchi's pinched angry voice cut through the stillness of the hall, his footsteps padding an even rhythm as he walked determinedly past the lithe hiding form in the shadows. She never really understood why the 12th Division decided on having darkened halls but she was definitely glad for it now. She could hear the jangling of keys as the office door was unlocked.

"If Sou-Taichou didn't insist on having these ridiculous little meetings this would go much faster. Even more time is lost on your frivolous little endeavors Nemu. Sometimes I wonder why I even bothered to create you in the first place if all you do is…" His voice trailed off as he went through the door to his research room, closing it with a resounding thump. Soi Fon took a steadying breath wiped a bead of sweat from her cheek. Hiding ones reiatsu for so long and at this close range had taken its toll but now the job was done, all that was needed now was to head back to squad 2, back to the safety of her sanctum and she shunpoed from the hall to the outer courtyard, using the fading sun to her advantage as she fazed from shadow to growing shadow. It would take a few days to a week at most in order to get the information back to Yoruichi without anyone becoming suspicious. She didn't mind though, one didn't become a Captain of the Gotei 13 without learning a little patience.

* * *

~Symphonyofsilence~


	4. Broken Circles

Ok here is **Ch. 4 - Broken circles.**

Thanks to all of you that have reviewed this piece so far, you guys give me such encouragement to keep the story going.

Now that I'm finished with the fluffy pre-story blurb lets get down to business...

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"And so, brother actually swindled the entire mine right out from under Yoki's nose!" Al said with a laugh, hands waiving expressively throughout the story. After three days of patrols with Uryuu, Al had started to like the young man. Sure, he was a little on the serious side, but he was polite and very curious about Amestris. Al loved telling him stories about his and Ed's travels, seeing as it helped to dispel the boredom of walking around Karakura in the late evening.

"How did you two get out of town alive?" Uryuu asked, a rare smile on his lips. Al's smile grew to a smirk at the question.

"Well, brother ended up selling the mine back to the miners, and there were just too many of them. They ran Yoki right out of town, right along with his henchmen and… and Lyra." Al's smile faded a little at the memory of the young alchemist. The last time he had seen her it wasn't even Lyra any longer, but Dante using her body. A small shiver ran down his spine that had nothing to do with the cool air of the late autumn evening.

"That was a clever move," Uryuu said, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Yeah it was. We're not really supposed to use Alchemy to turn anything into gold, but it was only a temporary alchemic change, so no harm done." Al shrugged a little and the smile returned with the telling of the story.

They had come to the park the patrol route usually took them through. The late evening hour had the streetlights on and the trees that lined the street threw a multitude of shadows on the manicured grass of the deserted park.

"Is it another one of those laws you were talking about? Like equivalent exchange?" Uryuu asked, giving Al a thoughtful look.

"Yes it is."

"I have to admit Alchemy sounds very interesting. Not just the reactions one can make but the laws and rules applied to the science." The young archer kept half an eye on the road ahead while he maintained the conversation.

"Alchemists live by the equivalent exchange laws. Well… _almost_ all of them do, at least." Al's head drooped a little, pulling away from the intelligent blue eyes of Uryuu.

"So these reactions, how are they done?"

"Well if you like I can show you. First you need the proper circle. You see the basic strength of a transmutation circle is the nature of the shape itself. The circle represents the circulation of power. By drawing it that power can be evoked, and you can harness the laws that govern it for yourself." Al explained. He stopped walking a short distance into the park and drew a small circle in the dirt. It was one of the simpler alchemic circles he and his brother had first used so very long ago.

"So you would need to know a lot of circles then." Uryuu stated and Al nodded in agreement.

"Most definitely. Not only that, but you need to know the elemental makeup of the item you're changing, as well as what you're changing it into. There are entire libraries devoted to alchemy back home." Al started placing a few small items within the circle—a piece of wood, a handful of sand and a pinecone.

"Once you have your circle made, you can place whatever you're changing in the centre. Then press your hands to the outermost circle, and here's the tricky part – you need to use the flow of energy around you in order for the change to take place. One who works within this system of flow to create new things – that is the true alchemist." He placed his hands on the circle and swirled the energy around him allowing the blue light of the energy to flow through him. He could feel it sliding down the columns of his arms and watched the blue light crackle around the items in the centre of the circle. Once the light had faded a small wooden train, complete with metal wheels and a coal car stood where the other items once were. He picked up the toy and handed it to the now wide-eyed archer.

"That was amazing." Uryuu's hushed voice was full of awe as he looked the toy over closely. "Do you think you could teach me?"

"Sure. I'll teach you something easy. First we're gonna need sand." Al was already looking around the small park, sharp eyes spying out another deposit.

"Sand?" Uryuu sounded confused.

"Yes. It has a high silica content, and silica is easy to change over." Al said with a smile as he bent over to pick up a handful of the stuff and brought it back to where they were standing. He went over the details of what circles were best, how much sand was needed and other intricacies of the alchemy that they were planning to use. Uryuu's first few tries came up with no change at all or a muddled piece of _something_ but after the fourth try the blue crackle surged through him and onto the circle and once the light faded a small metal horse stood in the centre.

"HA! I got it!" Uryuu shouted in triumph, picking up the small item. None of the legs were the same length, and the neck was a bit too long but it definitely held promise and Al nodded his head and gave the archer a bright smile, clapping him on the back of his shoulder.

"That was really good. Congratulations, Uryuu!"

"Thanks Al." He gave the young man another smile then stiffened and looked over his shoulder, his eyes now intent and serious as he looked to the lamp-lit street. "I know what that is. Come on." Uryuu placed the small trinket in his pocket and grabbed Al's shoulder, hauling him along.

"What's wrong, Uryuu?" Al asked, trying to keep up with the long strides of the archer. He found that with his human body there were some things he couldn't do as well when he had the metal body, for instance keeping up with people and getting out of breath.

"A hollow." Al could hear the steel in his voice, and they both picked up the pace, running towards the street. The closer they got, the more easily the creature could be seen.

"This one isn't as strong as the others so it should be easy to take down. I need to get out of the tree line first so I can get a clear shot though." Al nodded in understanding and followed the archer. The trees thinned ahead as they ran, and Al's breath caught in his throat at the creature before him.

The hollow was black and bulbous, with four legs and a tail. The back half of its body looked like that of a lizard while the front seemed more like a gorilla. A large bone mask with a pointed nose sat on its face, hiding its features. Its mouth was unnaturally large, and seemed even more ridiculously out of proportion when opened. Sharp canines gleamed white in the artificial light of the street lamps, ropes of saliva dripping from the points. Al was strongly reminded of one of Tucker's Chimeras, and a cold spike of fear and nausea ran through him at the sight. It looked to be chasing a small girl. Its thick, wiry hind legs were pushing it inexorably closer to the small child, closing the distance, its intention clear. Uryuu stopped running the moment he had a clear shot and raised his arm, the blue bow forming along his hand. He pulled back a shining blue arrow, then, after barely a moment's pause to aim, released the arrow in a flash of light. His aim was true, a bullseye to the centre of the mask spider webbing the bone and cracking it in pieces. The hollow stumbled, its back legs giving out as it crumbled to the ground. But it didn't stop. The momentum the hollow had gained in its sprint propelled the great heaving body forward, sliding, and Al could see that if it kept its speed, the little girl would be caught up in its fall and crushed under its weight.

There was no time for hesitation. Without thinking, Al clapped his hands, the vision of the circle he needed searing itself in the centre of his mind, and slammed his palms into the ground. He could hear a violent crackling, and the ground under his hands glowed bright blue. A thick, stone wall came up, splitting the ground under his hands and flying outwards, catching the creature at the last minute so it mashed itself into the wall before fading into nothingness, the small girl safe on the other side, tears trickling down her face as she ran.

"I'll get the girl and calm her down." He heard Uryuu say, but Al barely was able to formulate a response. All he could do was look disbelievingly between his two small hands and the earth wall he had created. A slow heavy comprehension started working its way through his young body with the remembrance of sensei's words…

_The fading sun on the hilltop on the outskirts of Dublith where sensei had brought him and his brother caught the light of her white tunic, tinting it with the same pale gold as the clouds overhead. Her back was turned from them; it was as if she couldn't quite meet their eyes. Al kept his eyes trained on her straight back, waiting for the next words he knew was coming._

"_So come on Ed. Did you actually see the gate?" Her voice was clear, strong and confident and at the question he saw his brother bunch his hands into fists at his sides._

"_Yes." The word was a harsh, forced whisper and his shoulders hunched defensively at the word._

"_How did it happen? Tell me everything." It was an order, not a question. He could hear the hitch in his brothers breathing. There was a long pause before Ed said anything._

"_Sensei, we- I… We transmuted our mother!" His brother's yell was pained, like the simple acknowledgement was enough to break him._

Yes he remembered now. It was the gate. It was always the gate. He found he also remembered the things he had seen, the information that was pummeled into his brain the moment the gate was opened to him, forcing its way inside him whether he wanted it or not. The painful rejoining of his soul back to his body was nothing compared to that. He shuddered and dropped to his knees, his legs suddenly giving out on him, unable to hold his weight under the onslaught of thoughts running through his head.

_It's like Dad, Sensei, Dante and brother. We all saw it and now that I can remember… Now I'm like them too._

He thought he would be happy on this day—joyful at becoming just as good at alchemy as his brother was—but there was none of that. Just a solemn and foreboding understanding that bowed his shoulders and made him feel old and weary, as if he had lived too many lives within the short time he had been on this earth. It wasn't just that he didn't need to draw the circles any longer, it was more. It was one more mark, one more permanent souvenir of what they had done, yet more proof of what they had tried – and where they had gone.

He heard two sets of footsteps moving slowly towards him, and lifted his eyes to see Uryuu holding the shoulder of the young girl. Judging by her dilated pupils and the way her limbs trembled, her body was so pumped full of adrenaline that had Uryuu not been tightly gripping her shoulders, she would likely still be running until her body gave out. She couldn't be more than Al's physical age and he could see that tear streaks were still fresh on her face.

"We need to take her home," Uryuu said softly, patting the young girl's shoulder consolingly. Al could feel Uryuu regarding him carefully, seeming to catch on to the feelings radiating from him. "Are you alright, Al?"

"Y-yeah… I'm okay." He gave the young archer what he hoped was a bright smile but felt the corners of his mouth tremble slightly at the corners. Uryuu saw the slip, and narrowed his eyes slightly in disbelief. "I really am, honest. Are you okay, little girl?" He asked, looking away from the assessing, concerned eyes of the dark haired teen to look at the terrified girl. "What's your name?"

Her small mouth twitched as she attempted to speak, but no sound came out.

"Here, just breathe," Al said. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

After a few moments, she replied in a soft, barely audible voice, "I-I d-don't know. I mean, I-I'm not h-hurt… I d-don't really know what h-happened…" She hiccupped, then began to cough. Uryuu moved his hand in small circles on her back until she was able to catch her breath. When she spoke again, her voice was slightly stronger, though still shaky. "It's like I was being ch-chased by a cloud… Only, it was d-different." The little girl's chin wobbled dangerously and tears started to bead in the corners of her eyes.

"It's okay. You're safe now." Al patted her hands, still clasped tightly in front of her and gave another attempt at a smile, this one feeling much more sincere than the last. "Come on, we'll walk you home. Just let me fix this first." He closed his eyes and found the circle he needed in his head, then clapped and placed his hands in the same place, forcing the wall back to its original state, safe in the ground. The little girl's eyes widened, not quite comprehending what she was seeing though the adrenaline rush. Al got up and dusted his knees, then started walking alongside the little girl. He hadn't expected it but after a few paces the girl slipped a cold, clammy hand into his.

* * *

The wiry, slim body lifted his head, as if sensing for the first time the prey he had been hunting for since he got to this place. Even though the arrow had pierced him almost a week ago, he still felt it, the all-too-well-known crackle and fizz that seared along his nerve endings, and he turned his head in the direction of it.

"Hoenheim..." He growled, sharp teeth gleaming in a predatory smile and he stood from the sitting position he had taken up in the small alleyway. Purple eyes scanned the street, trying to find the man he knew was near.

He walked on into the growing night, his long, dark hair catching the light breeze and dancing away from his face. He would walk all night if he had to, hell he would walk for days on end just to get his hands around that mans neck, feel the grinding snap of bone under his palms, feel the life force fade from the prone body and watch with something like elation as his amber eyes dimmed in death. He had been dreaming of this for so long, too long even.

When Envy first arrived at this new place, he had felt different. It was as though he could sense things… _taste_ things. Taste the changes in the air and the pathetic human emotions around him, scurrying along in their daily lives like ants in an overlarge anthill. It was strange, as if a sixth sense he never knew he had had somehow risen from inside him, and now helped him to find his bastard of a father. It was like he _knew_ the feeling of alchemy now. It was an insufferable buzzing, like a shaken beehive or a current of electricity coursing through his head and tingling along his arms.

It didn't take long to find it. He had walked maybe three blocks to find a park—dark and desolate with nothing around but the ground. The tree line was still buzzing with the energy he had felt. He walked to the spot, placing his hands on the even, grassy ground. Alchemy was done here, and recently too. Envy closed his eyes, reaching out with that sixth sense of his to see if he could feel his father's energy in the buzz. After a moment his lip curled in loathing. No. It wasn't Hoenheim. It was one of those miserable little Elric brothers. He snatched his hand away from the ground, lips curling in disgust. No matter where he went, it seemed as if he would be cursed with the evidence of his father's disloyalty with those two. They were always going around with their trivial excuses and pointless quests, as if it was the only thing that mattered in their world. '_I need to get my body back, I need to get the philosophers stone.' _Please. How much more ridiculous could they be? It was their fault what happened to them for trying to bring back that whore of a mother they loved so much. They deserved what they got.

"Fucking Elrics." Envy spat under his breath. He looked up and down the street to see if either of them were near. If he couldn't find Hoenheim, one of those sorry excuses for alchemists might know where he was. He saw no trace of people, no sound of creaking armor, just an empty street with a few vehicles here and there parked along the curb.

His eyes narrowed in thought. If the Elrics were nearby that would mean they came through the gate as well. Did that mean Dante had come too? God he hoped not. That bitch of a woman just wanted to use him and if she found him here, that's all she would do—try to use him again. And he was done with that. Done with _her_.

Che.

He hoped that Gluttony ate her. That would teach her to mess with homunculi like them. He smiled humorlessly at the thought, then shook himself a little and brought his thoughts back to the present. No point in worrying about what he didn't know. The fact of the matter in the here and now was that the Elrics were in the same place as him, and he was damn sure they would lead him to Hoenheim.

The humorless smile that pulled the corners of his lips up turned malicious as a plan started to form in his mind. He knew how to get those boys to tell him where their father was… Oh, did he ever! It might take some time and some extra effort on his part, but he would get there eventually. He would get what he wanted, even if he had to kill them both. All he needed them to do for now was to keep doing their alchemy and it would draw him a map of exactly where they were, and this was the starting point.

"Don't worry Elric boys, we'll meet again." His steely, gravelly voice held a note of destructive glee in it and he could barely keep the laugh from bubbling up under his breastbone.

~TBC~

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~Symphonyofsilence

I'm such a sucker for transmutation circles, if you'd like to see the circle Al taught Uryuu it's here, just remember to remove the spaces:

http ://diab0lik5. deviantart. com/art/alchemy-array-used-by-al-ed-77850919

It's one of the first transmutation circles Ed and Al ever learned and I thought it would be nice for Uryuu to learn it. I'm not the creator of this image, so compliments should go to the artist, not me.


	5. Find Me A Find, Catch Me A Catch

Phew! *wipes sweat from brow* it took a while to get this one out but its finally done and finally here!

I'm not even gonna bother with a pre-babble, I know you guys wanna read the story

So without further ado may I present to you **Chapter 5: Find me A Find, Catch me A Catch.**

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Ed walked across the sprawling Karakura town to Ichigo's house in the early night, pulling his red jacket tighter around him from the late autumn chill. Their time to patrol usually left off when Al and the archer got back from theirs and he had taken to walking to Ichigo's house and meeting him there instead of having Ichigo meet him at the shoten. He needed time alone and away from the hat-man and the sly questions he kept asking. He had to give the man grudging credit for the way he did it though. The way Urahara dropped little questions in the middle of a conversation or asked something deceivingly innocent with that seemingly cherubic smile of his was done with an exceptionally underhanded capacity. Ed had gathered over the week they had been here the man was much _much_ more intelligent than he let on, maybe even as intelligent as Ed was, which truthfully wouldn't really surprise him. The man definitely had his own secrets, he could tell that just from the way Renji kept slipping in his own rather blunt questions that Urahara sidestepped with a laugh or flick of his fan.

_Conniving hat wearing bastard_. He thought with a small grin.

If Ed wasn't on guard he would have slipped up more than once about where they were from and how they had gotten here. _And what a weird place here is_.

He had learned quite a bit in the last few days patrolling with the redhead. This world was definitely much different from Amestris, the technological advances in and of themselves were definitely something to pay attention to and he had asked question upon question on just that alone. Phones could be carried in pockets, vending machines on street corners held anything from delicious drinks to Sudoku games and these things called television! They were brilliant pieces of machinery that brought comedy shows, step by step do-it-yourself projects and world news from all over the world straight to your living room. Ed was pretty sure that if Winry ever saw any one of these things they would have all been torn apart within seconds just so she could see how they worked. He smiled sadly to himself at the memory of her pulling apart his alchemy watch and sped up his steps in the cold dark.

The most interesting find though was the fact that alchemy worked here, whereas in the Hoenheim world (which Ed had taken to calling the world his father was now in) it didn't. The best guess was that the Hoenheim world was too far removed from his own for the alchemy to work, the history was simply too different. It made sense that it would work here though considering all of the other strange things that seemed to happen in this world. The most fascinating being the idea of a separate linked world called soul society watching over the living world in which certain people could travel back and forth, as well as the linked souls of zanpakutos that Ichigo had told him about. It turns out the swords actually held a soul within them that mirrored an aspect of the shinigami soul that they could control – well not control really, he reminded himself – they had to understand the sword, learn its name, and work with it in order to master the power within them, not unlike mastering the flow of energy to create alchemic reactions. Each power was different too, which was also somewhat similar to the way certain alchemists gained special abilities when learning about alchemy. Mustang had his flames, Kimbly made bombs, and Armstong had those stupid stone head things. The parallels were quite fascinating.

However intriguing these things may be it still didn't answer the fact of how Ed and his brother ended up in this place, or how Ed could use this information in order to get back home. There must have been a reason it opened up here, some kind of catalyst maybe… The more he thought about it the more unsure he became about the primary reason they landed in this world.

"Stupid gate." He murmured under his breath as he turned the corner onto Ichigo's street.

When he got to the door and knocked he was unceremoniously yanked inside and pulled up the stairs and into Ichigo's room by the redhead himself.

"Nng- Leggo! I don't know why you had to pull me into your room like that." Ed growled as he pulled his red coat from the death grip Ichigo had on it.

"Well this time I had a reason!" Ichigo growled back, the ever present scowl darkening on his face. The teen looked like he was holding his breath for something.

"What kind of reason would you need to haul me like a sack of rice up your stairs?"

"I-CHI-GOOOOOOOOO!!!!" The baritone yell came from behind the door and a second later the door flew open.

"_That_ reason." Ichigo groaned before he was pummeled with a fist from a rather large looking man with dark hair, a scruffy chin and a half crazed smile.

"It's the great Kurosaki Papa smack of pure love!" The man shouted as he put the redhead in a headlock and proceeded to try and punch Ichigo in the stomach.

"Dad why are you so damn weird?!" The teen yelled as he pushed off the older man and tried with little luck to push him out the door.

"This is your _father_?" Ed's eyes were huge with disbelief. The older man caught sight of Ed and turned a ridiculously huge smile on the blonde.

"Awe Ichigo you're making new friends I'm so proud of you! Why hello there young man." Ichigo placed his head in his hands as the older man stepped towards Ed with surprising speed and stuck out his hand.

"Ah… Hello sir." Ed said trying to pull his thoughts in order and took the offered hand in his metal one.

"That's a firm handshake you have there, please call me –urk!" The last comment was cut off, probably because Ichigo's arm snaked around the older mans neck and tried to forcefully remove him from the room.

"Outta my bedroom old man." Ichigo grated out while trying to pull the older man towards the door.

"I –ak- think it's important for a father to -hurk- meet the friends of his son." The words came out strangled and garbled and the elder and younger Kurosaki's started to grapple for the door with Ichigo's arm still around the father. The elder was trying to keep it closed; the younger was trying – with little success – to wrench it open.

"Well I don't ya freak!" Ichigo yelled. The teen let go of the elder Kurosaki's neck in order to focus on getting the door open only to have his father give him a sweeping blow to the side of his head.

"AHA! You let your guard down!" The older man yelled triumphantly.

"That's IT!" Ichigo shouted, face going an uncharacteristic pink and yanked the door open. The two fell into the hallway and one of their legs, Ed wasn't sure which, smacked the door closed and muffled sounds of fighting could be heard behind the closed door.

"Hughes I think I found your soul mate." Ed said quietly with a small laugh.

"Ed is that you?" He heard a soft feminine voice and the closet door slid back so that he could see the young woman he had met at the shoten a few days before.

"Rukia? Why are you in Ichigo's closet?"

Rukia shrugged and gave him a good natured smile, flashing him a set of straight white teeth. "Because I live here." She said simply.

"In his closet?" He said without thinking and mentally kicked himself at how ridiculous he sounded. She couldn't mean the actual closet… Could she?

"Pretty much." _Oh. Well then._ She got up from her seat on the shelf and came to stand in front of Ed in the small room and Ed started to founder for something to say. She shrugged again and gave him another warm smile, then pulled a small silver cell phone out from the pocket of her skirt and flipped it open with a flick of her wrist.

"Since Ichigo is beating his father up in the hall I thought I should tell you we picked up a hollow a little while ago but it was destroyed. Uryuu and Al seem to be a pretty good team so far."

Ed's eye sharpened on the young woman and the cell phone in her hand she was looking at. "Do you think it was Envy?" He asked.

Rukia shook her head decidedly and looked up at Ed. "No this one wasn't very strong and it couldn't mask its reiatsu." She murmured and flicked the phone closed and placed it back in her pocket.

"I wish I could be happy about that." Ed said with a sigh and slumped against the desk in the room.

"What do you mean?" Rukia took up a spot beside him and leaned against the desk as well, her large violet eyes curious.

"I mean I don't want my brother up against him alone." Ed had to raise his voice over the thumping going on in the hall and dropped his eyes to the floor.

"That makes sense. You're very close to him aren't you?"

"Yeah. Do you have a brother?"

"Yes. I was adopted into the Kuchiki family a long time ago. My brother and I are close but not like you are with Al. I think it's sweet." He looked at her and was caught by those beautiful violet eyes again. He swallowed and gave her a small smile.

"Thanks…" For some reason Ed was starting to have trouble speaking. It seemed that the moisture in his mouth seemed to evaporate but the sweat in his palms had somehow multiplied.

"Man that guy is such a freak sometimes!" Ichigo threw the door open and fell back to press himself against it with what looked like a very impressive outline of a foot across his face.

"My dear son needs his private time. Oh sweet darling Misaki our son is growing up so fast!" the muffled voice from behind the door could be heard easily and Ed let out a small laugh.

"You didn't incapacitate him this time?" Rukia asked as she pushed herself away from the desk and sat back on her perch in the closet.

"No but I should have. Come on metal man our patrol starts now. Where's Kon?" The redhead inquired while looking searchingly throughout the room.

"It's Ed or Fullmetal." Ed said, folding his arms across his chest.

"My bad- Fullmetal then, it's a cool name." Ichigo ruffled his disheveled red hair before looking over at Rukia. She placed a finger at the end of her chin in thought for a moment.

"The last time I saw Kon Yuzu was playing with him, I think she put him in a dress." She said with an impish smile.

"Well I guess I'll just have to leave me on my bed so it looks like I'm sleeping. Can you do me a favor and watch over my body until I get back?"

"Sure."

"Thanks Rukia. Ready Fullmetal?" Ichigo said absently as he grabbed his substitute shinigami tag.

"Yeah I'm ready." Ed nodded and watched as Ichigo lay down on his bed and smacked his chest with the tag. A swirl of energy that was quickly becoming familiar surged in the room and Ichigo's shinigami body rose from the bed, complete with black robes and ridiculously large sword.

"Does it hurt at all going in and out of your body like that?" Ed asked. He was trying to step around the body on the bed in order to get to the window so the two could climb out and start their patrol.

"Nah it feels kinda tingly for a minute though. How does it feel when you do that alchemy thing, does that hurt?"

"Alchemy? No it… Kinda feels tingly." Ed mused. Ichigo landed on the pavement and Ed clapped his hands to create stairs along the wall so he could walk down. Once there he clapped again to put the house wall back in order.

"Man that's cool. Ok I was thinking we should start near the industrial area and work our way around the town that way. I don't think we've gone that way yet."

"Sure sounds good to me."

"Alright, this way then." Ichigo motioned with his chin and the two started walking. "So how is training going with you and your brother?"

"Honestly it's going slow. Al remembers all the training we had but his movements…" What was he supposed to say to end that sentence? '_his movements aren't as heavy hitting as his metal body_' or maybe '_All his kicks are aimed too low because he used to be as tall as Armstrong_.' He shook his head a little in frustration.

"Well that's usually what happens when you start sparring again, you forget stuff sometimes."

"That's why we're training. Urahara let us use the training facility under the shoten. It's a lot bigger than anything I've used before and there's a lot of raw materials so we can even practice alchemy down there without having to worry too much about bugging the rest of the place. Hey why don't you join us sometime and help us out a little with sparring, I wouldn't mind showing you a thing or two about Amestris fighting."

"Ha! You're on little man." Ichigo said with a laugh.

"DON'T CALL ME SMALL!" Ed yelled, throwing his fist into the air. Honestly he wasn't that short any longer, he had grown to almost five foot five, _much_ taller than the five foot three he was stuck at.

"Geez ok, ok calm down. Kinda touchy about your height aren't you?" Ichigo held his hands up in front of him in order to placate the blonde. He turned his head towards one of the side streets they were walking by and by the looks of it he caught sight of something. "Hey wait a minute, is that Uryuu?"

Ed turned to look and could see the dark bespectacled teen along with a very familiar ten year old.

"Looks like it. HEY AL!" Ed called out and raised his hand in greeting. The two boys turned at the voices and trotted closer.

"You know I could probably hear you yelling from across town brother." Al chided. Ed rolled his eyes.

"Kurosaki." Uryuu said as he folded his arms across his chest and gave the redhead a haughty stare.

"Uryuu." Ichigo responded in the same arch tone. Ed and Al exchanged amused glances at that.

"Brother we found a hollow chasing after a little girl. It kinda looked like a chimera." Al said excitedly. There was an underlying emotion in his eyes though and Ed looked more closely at his younger brother in order to figure out what it was.

"We defeated it easily enough. Al did quite a good job in helping with his alchemy." Uryuu stated and gave Al a small quick smile.

"You did?" Ichigo inquired and looked at the youngest of the group. Al ducked his head a little and blushed at the comment.

"Yes he created some kind of wall and saved the girl."

"Like sensei at the flood?" Ed asked. Walls were actually quite hard to make on the fly, the circles needed for it were quite complex and was impressed with the skill of his younger brother.

"Exactly like sensei." Al said heavily, still keeping his eyes on the pavement. "Brother…"

"What is it Al?"

"This." Al said quietly and clapped his hands then placed them on the ground. There was a small surge of energy and when his hands pulled away a small stone rocking horse lay on the ground.

"No circles… I kinda figured that would happen." Ed shrugged and gave his brother a smile.

Al looked up from the creation with wide eyes. "You were expecting it?" He said disbelievingly.

"Well yeah. I mean the same thing happened to me, Sensei and… The others. It makes sense it would happen to you too. It makes things easier doesn't it?"

"Yeah it kind of does." The smile Al gave Ed was real and sincere this time and Ed smiled back.

"What's the big deal about not using circles?" Ichigo asked looking confused.

"Well it's like the highest form of alchemy you can achieve." Al said softly before clapping his hands again and changing the stone rocking horse back into pavement.

Ichigo's eyes lit up. "So it's kind of like Bankai."

"Bankai?" Ed and Al said simultaneously.

"Yeah it's the highest form of zanpakuto release, mostly only captains and higher ranks in the Gotei 13 can do it like me and Renji. Maybe I'll show you when we spar the day after tomorrow. I'd like to do it tomorrow but I have school."

"You're going to spar with us?" Al asked looking hopefully at Ichigo.

"Sure, Fullmetal here offered. Hey Uryuu you should join us." Ichigo said and elbowed the archer none too gently in the ribs. Uryuu smacked his elbow away and gave him a dirty look.

"I might, if only to show the superior power of the Quincy."

"Che. You and your Quincy pride." Ichigo rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless.

"Sounds like fun, I've been training with only brother recently so it would be good to see some new moves."

"You make it sound like I suck Al." Ed said in what he hoped was an un-whiny voice.

"You don't suck. I'm just saying it would be fun."

"Nice backpedal." Ed said sarcastically.

"Thanks."

"We're just heading back to the shoten now. I'll see you tomorrow at school Kurosaki and I'll see you on Saturday." Uryuu nodded toward Ed before turning and heading back in the direction they came from.

"See ya later Uryuu, Al." Ed said and waved happily. Al waved back before catching up with the archer.

Ichigo and Ed started walking in the direction of the industrial area again in companionable silence.

"Ya know your brother seems older than he is." Ichigo said after a time.

"That's because he _is_ older than he looks."

"He is? He looks like he's ten."

"I know." Ed shrugged. He could feel the teen's eyes on him but kept his face forward on the road ahead of them. There was a long tense pause before Ichigo sighed.

"Let me guess, it's a long story?"

"You're starting to get the hang of this." Ed laughed.

"Well you don't really give me a choice. Your pretty chincy with your answers you know. You must drive Urahara insane."

Ed could feel the smile widen on his face.

"Heh, yeah."

* * *

Urahara sat on the porch of the shoten, tea cup in hand watching the late afternoon sun pull the shadows of the shoten along the porch and into the yard. With all the people currently staying in the little building it was hard to get any time alone with his thoughts other than when in his workroom, which no one dared enter. It was nice having that space to himself but sometimes it was good to relax in the fresh air and he sighed contentedly in the silence of the afternoon, sipping his tea.

"I see some things don't change." A soft feminine voice filled with amusement broke through the quiet and Urahara's mouth quirked in a wry smile in hearing it.

"I see your getting better at masking your reiatsu so some things change, and for the better too." Urahara said lightly. He tilted his head to the side and watched as a slim purple headed woman detached herself from the darkness of the shoten wall to stand in front of Urahara, a small smile on her lips.

"Come, sit, have some tea with me." He moved a little on the bench to make room for the woman. Yoruichi nodded and took a seat.

"I think I'll sit but I don't need tea at the moment."

"Suit yourself. Tessai made it, and it's quite good…?" The silent offer was extended again but Yoruichi decidedly shook her head and looked out to the rooftops of Karakura, the light was catching bright strands of her indigo hair and making her skin glow.

"I spoke with Soi Fon." She said quietly.

"And what does the special forces Taichou have to say hmm?" Urahara murmured, eyes narrowing on the woman's profile.

"This is bigger than we thought Kisuke." Yoruichi's voice was void of all emotion now and the beautiful eyes that she landed on Urahara's were serious and… Was that concern hidden in those golden depths?

"Isn't that always the way with us though?" He said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Yoruichi gave a light snort. "Maybe with you it is. Seriously though, the information Soi Fon found…" Yoruichi tipped her head to look to the floorboards of the porch, as if looking for the right way to explain what she knew.

"Out with it Yoruichi." There was a long pause before she shifted in her seat.

"It seems as though the young men you have at the shoten aren't from here. They come from another world entirely." She looked as if a huge secret was revealed and Urahara smiled once more then brought the little teacup to his lips, taking a long sip before replying.

"Tell me something I don't already know." Urahara said laughingly. Yoruichi looked him over once more before replying.

"That obvious are they? They came through a gate. Apparently it was supposed to be locked by Sou-Taichou himself over four hundred years ago." This information was definitely interesting and had Urahara looking thoughtfully into the depths of his teacup.

"If the gateway is supposed to be locked wouldn't there be a failsafe? An alarm of some kind maybe in order to let Seireitei know that the gate was opened again?"

"I thought that too but this gateway – it must have opened in a different way than last time."

"Hmm… That would make sense considering it was locked." Urahara said softly and lifted the small teapot to pour another cup of hot tea.

"There's more." Yoruichi said in a hard voice, eyes locked to the puffy white-grey clouds and small worry lines etching themselves into the caramel skin between her brows.

"Of course there is." Urahara said with a snort of amusement.

"It's locked on our side so I don't know if they can be sent back without Sou-Taichou finding out and unlocking the doors and we both know how he is when he locks something. That door isn't opening again anytime soon."

"Well that makes things more interesting doesn't it?" Urahara smiled to himself. He always did like a challenge, and this situation seemed to give him another chance to shine.

"I'm sure that if anyone can figure it out you can." Yoruichi smiled at him but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes this time.

"Ah Yoruichi, you always did have high hopes for my intelligence." Urahara gave her one of his mischievous looks and the sad little smile the woman had on her lips turned genuine.

"Oh please, you're the one that's always going on about your genius abilities."

"That's because I _am_ a genius, remember?" He toasted to her with his little cup and took another sip.

"Always so cocky." She said with a laugh, shaking her head lightly from side to side.

"I would call it being truthful. But to get back on topic…" Urahara murmured. The smile faded from Yoruichi's face and her eyes became intent and serious once more.

"This alchemy you spoke of, apparently that's how the gate opened the first time, there was some kind of alchemic reaction from the creation of something - a stone of some sort – Soi Fon couldn't get the name of it but it was strong Kisuke. Strong enough that the doors blew open and started pulling reishi through it, pulling apart entire chunks of Rukongai and even some pieces of Seireitei. The intake of energy was so huge the gate had to be closed and locked before any more reishi could be pulled through. A little while ago there was another disturbance but because of the lockdown the doors stayed shut." The worry lines between her brows were back.

"A stone huh? It must be damn powerful for a gate to burst open and start pulling apart both Rukongai and Seireitei." Urahara mused aloud and then almost punched himself for saying it. The stone he created – Hougyoku, it was just as world changing, if not more so than whatever stone this was for all he knew. Hell the entire oncoming war was his fault in a way. His shoulders tensed with the memory and regret of it. _So many deaths and all for some damn experiment… What a fool you are Urahara Kisuke _he thought to himself.

Yoruichi seemed to grasp the thought path Urahara had taken and patted his hand in understanding.

"It's not your fault you know. Aizen would still have chosen his path with or without Hougyoku." She said softly.

"You're getting better at reading my thoughts too I see." He tried to laugh but it sounded bitter even to his own ears and choked it off.

There was a long silence in which both seemed to watch the shadows stretch across the shoten yard, pulling the last vestiges of light from the small porch and draping them in the shadows of early evening. He took comfort in the fact that although they were both alone, they were alone together, and somehow that seemed to help, even if only a little.

"Can these two boys do alchemy as well?" Yoruichi inquired, breaking the silence and pulling him back to the present.

"Yes they both can. Ed said that it's not a usual ability where they come from but both seem to have the gift. The young one Al even taught Uryuu how to do some simple stuff but the reactions take a lot of energy out of him, I can see it on his face. I have a very strong feeling that the hollow – this Envy character is from their side of the gate as well."

"Why do you say that?" Yoruichi finally looked at him again, curiosity gleaming in her eyes.

"It's looking for their father."

"So _four_ people have come through? This is unheard of! No one has ever tried to come through before. Why now I wonder?" She said, the last part was said quietly, almost as a question to herself.

"Well I'm not sure how many came through but two are definitely here and I'd put money on the fact that Envy is number three. I'm positive the boys are keeping something from me about him too." Urahara dropped his head a little in thought, hiding his eyes under the brim of his hat.

"That certain are you?" He could hear the amusement in her voice.

"Yes." He said solemnly.

"Well I'm sure you have a plan for getting that information out of them." She said confidently. Urahara shook his head a bit at that.

"I've been trying but Ed seems to be the slippery kind of kid, he dances out of questions so well I would think he's a reincarnation of me or something."

"Kami help us all if he is, I have my hands full with just one of you." Yoruichi gave a chuckle and nudged the mans shoulder.

"As you should be."

"Well if using intelligence to get the answers you want isn't working maybe you should try a different tactic?" he caught her eyes and saw a very familiar glint in the depths and could feel a slow wicked smile working across his features.

"You know you might be right."

"I usually am." Yoruichi suddenly tensed. "That's the Quincy's reiatsu. What's he doing here at this time of the evening?"

"Well he's been patrolling with the younger boy Al for almost a week now. The other reiatsu though…" Urahara's smile turned gleeful. "Do me a favor and mask your reiatsu again, I'm sure these two don't want us to break their special moment." Her eyes went wide with surprise but she did as she was asked and the two shadowed figures on the porch pulled their energies into themselves and sat in anticipation in the shadows of the porch. Not long after two male figures could just barely be seen on the outskirts of the shoten yard. It looked distinctly like the two were holding hands before the shorter of the two pulled the other down for a quick kiss.

"Did he-"

"I found this out the other day. Interesting isn't it?" Urahara cut her off with a laughing whisper.

"Well I have to admit this was unexpected, especially those two." Yoruichi chuckled.

"I thought so too but you have to admit it is rather cute. Ah young love." They both exchanged knowing glances as Uryuu pulled away from the other boy to walk towards the shop.

There was a loud crash and Urahara could hear Jinta's muffled voice, then Ed's loud tenor shouting 'DON'T CALL ME SMALL!' tearing through the silence of the evening.

"I should let you go so you can take care of your dysfunctional little family then." Yoruichi had gotten up from her seat, trying to hold back the laugh he knew was buried somewhere inside.

"Mm yes probably. Thanks for dropping by Yoruichi." He said, standing and stretching a little and nodding to Uryuu, now walking alone towards the shoten.

"Any time Kisuke." Her smile was back and she gave a wink to the now visibly flustered archer before she shunpoed into the growing darkness of night.

* * *

Omigosh who the heck did Uryuu kiss?! And whats the deal with the gate being locked? I guess you'll just have to wait for the next installment in order to find out *insert evil laugh here*

~Symphonyofsilence

Remember reviews mean love!


	6. Always The Last to Know

Alright peeps here is **Ch. 6 - Always The Last to Know**. I was originally going to put this up as 2 chapters but I found the story flowed better as one.

I was fighting this chapter for quite a while, Urahara wasn't even going to show up but we all know how he likes to get his sticky little fingers into anything thats interesting. I finally gave up and let the man have his way so this chapter is dedicated to our favourite exiled Taichou - Urahara Kisuke.

Now, on to the story...

* * *

Ichigo stepped into the shoten yard and waved a quick hello to Jinta and Ururu who were sweeping the front steps and stepped inside the warmth of the shop. When he had mentioned to Rukia that he was going to spar with the Fullmetal kid she had insisted she come along and this morning she had left early, mentioning that she would bring Orihime with her. He was starting to look forward to sparring with the two new guys, the idea of not having Renji smashing Zabimaru at him at full tilt or Uryuu showing him indelicately all the places he left himself open from afar with that disdainful look made him itch for the coming fight and he allowed himself a small smile as he slipped into one of the adjacent rooms to drop off his body.

He headed for the ladder leading to the underground training area. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he found Fullmetal and his younger brother doing some kind of hand-to-hand technique that he had never seen before but looked very familiar to a martial art but he couldn't quite put his finger on which one. Renji was stretching while making small talk with Rukia and Orihime who were both sitting on a large rock. Uryuu sat a little off to the side next to Chad - wearing his Quincy whites the little showoff – and the two were chatting quietly together. Ichigo gave Chad one of his trademark half-smiles and walked towards the two.

"Hey Chad I didn't know you were coming too." Ichigo said as he stuck Zangetsu into the dirt and started stretching. Chad gave a non-committal shrug.

"Uryuu picked me up on the way over." He said simply. Ichigo stopped stretching and furrowed his brow in thought.

"Why would Uryuu pick you up on the way? You guys don't live anywhere near each other." Ichigo said. He stopped in mid stretch when his eye landed between his two friends, and his eyes narrowed at what he saw.

"Uh… Chad why are you holding Uryuu's hand?"

The two boys flushed a little but Uryuu seemed to recover the quickest, pushing his glasses up his nose and giving Ichigo a withering look.

"Kurosaki are you truly that dense?" The question seemed on the sarcastic side and Ichigo gritted his teeth in order to keep from making his own biting comment. He needed to make sense of this new situation.

"I didn't ask you Quincy. Chad?" He asked, looking almost pleadingly to his friend. This could not be what it looked like… Could it? Chad looked up at Ichigo once more and gave another shrug and smiled a little before looking back to Uryuu.

"I like him." He said softly.

"And I like him back." Uryuu's hand tightened over Chads hand before giving Ichigo another haughty look that made Ichigo want to smack it right off the Quincy's face.

"You like _Ishida_?!" Ichigo shouted incredulously, drawing stares from the rest of the group. How was this even possible?! Uryuu was gay? Ishida Uryuu, the too-smart for his own good, perfectly spotless no matter what, clothes making… hand sewing… Never noticed any girls before Quincy.

_Oh_.

Ok so maybe for Uryuu it started to make a weird kind of sense. But that didn't explain Chad. His best friend was one of the most masculine guys he had ever known! He liked guitars, played in a band, had gotten a tattoo at like fifteen when no one else would even have the guts to do something like that… But now that he put more thought into it he couldn't really remember a time where Chad took interest in girls either. Not even when Matsumoto and Orihime had hugged each other tightly and bounced up and down together squealing happily about-- He grabbed his nose and staunched what could have been a very embarrassing nosebleed and looked back at his two friends.

"How long has this been going on?" He asked through his hand.

"Two weeks." Chad supplied.

"Two _weeks_? How the heck did you keep everyone from knowing for two whole weeks?" He dropped his hand from his nose to land limply at his side. His brain felt like it was going to leak out of his ears and start pooling on the training ground.

"Actually Ichigo quite a few of us knew about them." Rukia said with a smile, overhearing the conversation.

"How the heck did you find out?" He asked swiveling his head towards the dark haired shinigami.

"When they left school the other day they were holding hands." She said as if it was the most simplistic thing in the world.

"Well I wasn't there for last class! I had to kill that hollow." By this time Renji had come up alongside him and gave him a well aimed jab in the ribs.

"What's the big deal anyways?" Renji asked.

"Whats the big deal?" Ichigo turned to the redhead with wide eyes. "Two of my best friends are… well together and Rukia found out before me!"

"Did you just say that I'm one of your best friends?" Uryuu asked with an arched brow and small smile. Probably one of those victory ones he always gave when Ichigo said something before thinking. _Damn him and his noticing everything_!

"Not helping Uryuu." He growled before turning to everyone. Ed and Al had come up on the other side of him, both with curious looks on their faces. "Ok who else knew about this before me?"

"I found out about a week ago when I saw them kissing… somewhere." Orihime chirped and then frowned slightly and tipped her head to the side. "Sometimes I never remember to remember the good parts but I always forget to forget about the boring stuff."

Ichigo's brow furrowed further, if that were possible. "I don't even know what to say to that. Who else then?" Ichigo asked. Renji started to chuckle beside him.

"I figured it out when Uryuu started calling him Sado instead of Chad."

"Renji knew?!" Ichigo asked in a high pitched voice. His brain wasn't going to leak out his ears, oh no, it was going to explode from his friends not telling him anything.

"I found out when Chad came with us on patrol the other day." Al said with a shrug.

"And Al told me after he got back." The blonde added. Ichigo started to sputter and stopped talking for a moment to catch his breath to the amusement of the rest of the group.

"So even the new guys knew before I did? This is… I mean-"

"You know Kurosaki you really are slow sometimes." Uryuu added rather unhelpfully.

"Yeah Ichigo what the fuck?" Renji chimed in.

"Lay off ya dickhead! I feel like my brain is gonna explode."

"Why would you feel that way? You're not bothered by this are you?" Uryuu asked, a small frown starting to form.

"What? No I'm just pissed I was the last to know!"

"You know I have to agree with Uryuu. You're kinda slow on the uptake sometimes Ichigo." Ed gave a laugh and nudged Ichigo on the shoulder.

"Oh yeah well you're…." _Think of a good comeback, a really good comeback_.

"SHORT!" _Damn it._ Ichigo cringed. However crappy he thought his comeback may have been the blonde reacted immediately, his face went pink and his eyes were huge.

"Who the fuck are you calling so short he could be compared to this pebble!" Ed yelled, seething rage.

"Nice comeback Kurosaki." Uryuu said sarcastically.

"That's not what he said brother." Al commented, trying to placate his older brother.

"Whatever, I'm kicking your ass now ya bean pole of a shinigami." Ed growled and started removing the white gloves he always wore.

"You think you could take me on?" Ichigo said pulling Zangetsu from the ground beside him and slinging it across his shoulder.

"Hell yeah I can! Al hold my gloves." Ed gave the gloves to his brother and clapped his hands, creating a three foot metal sword out of the metal of his arm.

"You can make a sword out of your hand?" Renji's eyes had widened at the length of blue steel protruding from Ed's arm.

"Alchemy can help me do all kinds of things. Like kicking his ass." Ed immediately replied, not looking away from Ichigo's eyes.

"That's some pretty big talk coming from someone so short." Ichigo groused while walking backwards toward a clearing in order to give more room for the two. He knew he probably shouldn't have said it but it was just too funny and honestly he kinda wanted to see the reaction in the kids face once more. Sure enough the gold eyes glittered with suppressed rage and his whole body seemed to vibrate with it.

"GAH! It's ON!" Ed cried and started running towards the redhead.

Ed came up to smash a bare metal foot into Ichigo's chin, which gave a loud clang with the force of it. His head snapped back before he could finish slamming his sword down at Ed. The kid was faster than he had anticipated. He rubbed the back of his hand against his chin, checking for blood. Thankfully there was none.

"You're quick." Ichigo said, tightening his hands on his zanpakuto.

"Damn right." Ed said in that cocksure voice of his before coming in for another attack. The metal sword that he made with alchemy came up close to Ichigo's neck. He blocked the strike, getting a well aimed kick to Ed's midsection. Ed fell back, breathing heavily and holding his side with his flesh arm. Ed paused, looking Ichigo over with intelligent gold eyes, intense and hard. The smirk was back. "So you don't rely solely on your weapon. That's good, I wouldn't want this fight to be over before I even got into it."

"What your gonna talk me to death or are we gonna do this?" Ichigo growled. Before he knew it Ed was in the air, catlike reflexes aiming a graceful overhead strike with his blade. Ichigo caught it but somehow the kid flipped or _something_ because one of Ed's feet smashed into his shoulder before he bounced away, landing a few feet from him and out of the way of any zanpakuto attack.

Ichigo snarled and came in close, their swords clashed loudly and Ichigo got three more attacks in before the blonde bounced away again. He could see an opening and ran for it but before he reached the kid Ed clapped his hands and raised the earth under him at an outward angle making him jump out of the way of the oncoming terra firma.

"That's a sneaky move." Ichigo said as he landed on the other side of the earthen shelf, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"I didn't want you to think you had to hold back on me." Ed gave what looked like a smile but was more a showing of teeth before he jumped over the wall, his blue steel sword aiming for Ichigo. The redhead smiled back and attacked the blonde. This time he had the upper hand and after a few strikes he was able to knock the kid down but the moment his back hit the training floor he rolled so only his shoulders touched the ground, threw his legs up and forward, snapping his upper body into the air to a crouch with his braid flying across his shoulder, sword at the ready.

"That was cool." He heard Renji say but ignored the comment. The fight became more insistent. Ichigo noticed Ed relied not only on his sword but also on hand-to-hand combat skills, throwing him a metal kick or a lightning fast punch that at first threw him off but he was starting to get the hang of his moves. One thing he prided himself on was never falling for the same trick twice, and the next time Ed's metal foot came towards his chin he brought up Zangetsu fast. The screech of metal on metal was loud and he pushed his zanpakuto forward hard, making Ed land back in another crouch. Ichigo didn't wait for the kid to regain his balance any further and came at him, sword swept to the side, ready for Ed's next attack.

Ed clapped his hands again and Ichigo jumped out of the way expecting another wall but he was wrong. An eight foot stone spike protruded from the ground, aimed directly at where he was only seconds ago.

"What the hell was that for? We're only supposed to be sparring! That coulda killed me!" Ichigo yelled, blinking sweat from his eyes.

"It wouldn't have killed you ya pussy. Besides I think your holding back on me."

"Fine you want it? You got it!" Ichigo called out and jumped back in order to get the room he needed. He dropped his left hand to his side and gripped Zangetsu tight with the other. He flung his right arm out creating a wide arc, pushing his reiatsu into the blade.

"Getsuga… TENSHOU!" he cried out. The blue arc flung itself towards Ed. His eyes went wide and he could see the kid clap and slam his hands into the ground once more. A small thick wall was erected just milliseconds before the tenshou blast reached him, knocking down the top half of the wall and past to smash into one of the stone hills surrounding them.

"I could have killed you?! You could have just killed me!" He heard Ed shout before he lifted a dusty face over the rubble of the half wall.

"You told me not to hold back so quit bitching. It's not like you're dead or anything." Ichigo rolled his eyes and slung his zanpakuto over his shoulder.

"It went right through the frickin wall and into that boulder back there. If I hadn't ducked I would have!" Ed yelled back while dusting himself off.

"You know your kinda whiny for someone who was supposed to be in the military."

"Here we go." He heard Uryuu huff.

"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Ichigo turned to the Quincy.

"It means your going to start another argument, this time with Ed. You seem to have a habit of doing that." Uryuu said in that annoying superior voice of his.

"This isn't even your fight so make yourself useful and don't say anything." Ichigo turned to address the archer and give him a black look before turning back to Ed, now patting his pants down in the silently mutual pause in fighting.

"If you keep leaving yourself so pathetically open on your right side I might have to join in just to show you the superior power of the-"

"Yeah yeah you and that stupid Quincy power of yours." Ichigo cut him off, already knowing the words he would say.

"Now now you two, the idea of this was to spar with the two new boys instead of arguing amongst each other was it not?" A familiar voice called out near the stairs and Ichigo turned to see Urahara make his way over to the two fighters, hat in place and staff in hand.

"Coming to join in the festivities Urahara?" Renji asked, now sitting next to Al, just off to the side of Rukia. Urahara gave a small nod to the redhead but turned towards the two fighters to address them.

"You two fight well, I commend you both."

"Uh… Thanks Urahara." Ed said hesitantly.

"So you wanna join in or something?" Ichigo asked. Urahara smiled at the substitute shinigami.

"Actually I wanted to cut in for a moment. I have a proposition for Ed here."

Ed turned towards the older blonde and Ichigo was sure the guy looked like he was trying to calculate something behind his eyes.

"What kind of proposition?" Ed asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. Urahara gave one of his ridiculously innocent seeming smiles.

"The kind that goes like this: We have a little sparring match of our own, just you and I. To make it interesting we'll put up some stakes for the winner."

"And these stakes you're talking about?"

"Information." Urahara replied immediately with a small nod. The smile was still there, seemingly innocent and ridiculously mischievous at the same time.

"What information do you have that we might want?" Al asked from across the way. Urahara turned to reply to the younger alchemist.

"Simple. I found some very interesting things from Yoruichi the other day. Things that might help you two get home." Urahara stated, the smile had changed a little now, he looked like a cat playing with a very entertaining mouse. Ichigo watched as the two alchemists tensed. There was a pause before Ed responded.

"I see. So if I win you tell me what I want to know and if you win I have to answer all your stupid questions." Ed surmised in a steely voice.

"Exactly! You're a very intelligent young man you know." Urahara turned back to Ed, flipping his fan open to hide the lower portion of his face so only his eyes were visible. "I'll tell you what, I'll sweeten the pot a little more for you. If for some _crazy_ reason I win, I'll still tell you what I know."

"But not after I spill right?"

"It's a win-win situation." Urahara said with a laugh, gesturing widely with his hands.

"Yeah for you maybe." Ed grumbled but the gold eyes still hadn't left Urahara's. The older blonde gave a theatrical frown.

"Really Ed I would think getting home would be a top priority for you and your brother." He said in mock concern. Ichigo watched as Ed stole a quick glance to his brother and flicked back to the older blonde before lifting his chin to respond.

"Fine I'll take your bet but I have a few conditions."

Urahara nodded. "I figured as much. Name them."

"First you have to take off that dumb hat and get rid of your fan." Ed said as he stepped around the half-wall and came to stand in front of Urahara. The older blonde gave a heavy sigh.

"Why does everyone hate my hat?" He said to no one in particular and raised his hand to remove the offending article and dropped the fan inside it. Seeing the man without his hat was strange, like a piece of armor was removed from the older man.

"Second: hand to hand fighting only. None of that getsuga whatever-the-hell that was that Ichigo used."

"Its getsuga tenshou." Ichigo corrected. Ed shrugged.

"Whatever."

"Alright I won't use my zanpakuto either. But if you're naming conditions then I have one for you as well. You can't use alchemy." Urahara walked towards the group of watching teens and dropped off hat, fan and staff, then walked back over to stand in front of the teen.

"So just fighter against fighter huh? I can deal with that." Ed nodded and clapped his hands, removing his three foot steel sword and returning his right arm to the mechanical one.

"I'm glad. Alright let's shake on this little endeavor of ours." Urahara gave another wide grin and held out his hand, his eyes glittering grey-green good humor. Ed hesitated for only a second before taking it in his own.

"Good luck Fullmetal." Ichigo said with a smirk. Ichigo had never really seen Urahara fight strictly hand to hand but had a feeling the guy was good.

"Why do I have the feeling I'm going to regret this." He heard Ed say softly before turning around to get a good stance.

Ichigo took up a seat next to Renji to watch the fight. One thing was certain; this was something he didn't want to miss.

* * *

Ed's head was spinning as he turned to take up his opening stance. The man had info on how to get them home? How was that even possible! And if it was indeed true then how the hell did that information get into this asshole's hands, and who was this Yoruichi that he had a conversation with?

He knew this was a thinly veiled ploy for Urahara to get info out of Ed but damn it all if the hat wearing bastard didn't just get him to agree to this. The man knew the perfect bait too and was probably waiting for the right moment to spring this on him. The second Urahara mentioned the information his heart started thudding in his chest and he hoped the desperation he felt clawing at his insides wasn't written all over his face. Urahara had never actually come down to watch Ed and Al spar but that didn't mean the man had other means of observation. He and his brother had been here for just over a week and had been using this underground facility almost daily since getting here to train in the morning hours. He had to assume the man at least had an idea of how he fought, which meant Ed had to be a lot more particular about the fighting techniques he used. He had to fight with no screw ups, no openings, and no second chances.

_No more holding back, fight like I'm fighting Al's armor_. He thought to himself as he turned towards Urahara. The man was taking up his own stance now and Ed hardened his resolve. He wanted to get out of this fight, just get the man to tell him what he knew but those hard grey eyes showed that Ed was getting nothing out of Urahara if he didn't play along with his little game and he grit his teeth that someone else was trying to pull his strings yet again. This was a fight he had to win no matter what. One thing he was damn certain of, he was not letting Urahara win. It simply wasn't an option. Not only would he have to tell everyone about the gate – which he now had a suspicion Urahara knew about which brought up another bunch of questions – but the reasons behind why the gate had come up in the first place, the underground city, Dante, Envy, the philosophers stone… The secrets he would have to spill gave him a cold spike of fear under his breastbone and he knew Urahara wouldn't be happy with just one of them. He'd want them all.

Urahara gave Ed a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. _This is probably why he wears the hat_.

"Would one of you like to administer the game on?" Urahara asked. Uryuu stood up and formed his bow.

"The fight starts the moment the arrow hits the ground between you two and will go on as long as needed. Don't fight dirty gentlemen. If you do I'll shoot another arrow and I can assure you it won't land on the ground." The last part was said with a sharp dark blue look at Urahara. The older blonde frowned.

"Such mistrust young Quincy." Urahara mourned. Ed ignored it, focusing instead on keeping his eyes on his opponent. The mans hands hung comfortably at his sides, his stance was easy and confident in his green robes and sandals. Ed frowned a little at that. He had removed his shoes when he was doing his warm up spar with Al, it was easier to get a grip on the ground under him with bare feet. Urahara was going to fight still wearing wooden sandals?

Uryuu raised his bow, pulling back a glimmering blue arrow and releasing it to the ground precisely between the two fighters. Ed didn't waste any time and went straight for the older blonde. He threw his lower body into the air and used his hands for leverage on the ground under him and twisted his legs in a sweeping roundhouse kick that Urahara blocked, first his left foot, then his right. Both attacks were blocked by Urahara's forearms in a basic defense stance. Ed dropped his feet to the ground and used the momentum to vault his upper body up to throw a flurry of punches between face, chest, midsection and hip. All of them were blocked fast.

"Woah." He heard Ichigo's voice but had no time to comment back. The older man had taken up the offensive and his hands were lightning fast. Almost all of his attacks were aimed at Ed's right side. He blocked an open handed jab at his ribs that he was sure was meant to wind him but wasn't expecting the smash on his right shoulder. He heard a hiss from Urahara before the man jumped back to put a little space between them.

"So your auto mail goes all the way to your shoulder I see."

"I thought you would have figured that out by now." Ed commented.

"Not really. Although I could have caught a glimpse of you in the shower at some point in time but even I'm not that perverted... At least not with underage types." Urahara gave another one of those creepy smiles.

"Riiiight." He heard Renji say sarcastically.

"So did you break two or three fingers on that hit?" Ed shot back, decidedly dodging the weird pervert comment. The older man gave a half shrug.

"Oh don't worry about me. Although I'm starting to understand why you're called Fullmetal. How far up your leg does that metal run by the way?" Urahara asked lightly.

"That's a question you'll never get the answer to because you're not gonna win." Ed gave a cocky grin to the older man and closed in on Urahara again.

This time Ed aimed low, he crouched down and came up fast with another flashing of fists trying to push the man off balance. Each attack was thrown off and with the next punch Urahara caught Ed's flesh arm in a vice grip. He was thrown roughly to the ground, his arm twisting painfully against his back.

"I think it's still fair game as to who will win don't you think?" Urahara's voice was dangerously close to Ed's ear and he put his metal arm under him and pushed up violently, aiming the back of his head at the laughing voice above him. The back of his head connected with something hard and he wrenched his flesh arm free with screaming muscles that would no doubt be bruised later and scrabbled away. After a few paces he pivoted on one foot to face Urahara. The man had a red spot on the side of his chin that Ed was sure would become a fantastic bruise if the back of Ed's head had anything to say about the matter. _Fairs fair_ He thought.

The man was still smiling damn it! And Ed was starting to worry a little. The last two attacks he had used on Urahara hadn't revealed any real openings he could use to his advantage. The man was a pretty good wall of defense. He had a feeling Urahara's two fingers on his left hand were broken so that may help in defeating the older man. Ed came at him again feigning an attack on Urahara's right side but at the last second he switched to aim a kick to his left. His leg was caught and twisted painfully. _Guess that means his fingers aren't broken._ Instead of fighting the twist he let his body go with it and spun himself into the air in a whirl of contracted limbs to land a short distance away from the still smiling Urahara.

"Wow that looked really neat!" He heard Orihime call out. Someone responded to her but he tuned it out, directing all of his attention to the fight. This time though he decided to wait for Urahara to come to him. If he couldn't get to the mans left side then he would have to get the man to engage him and possibly find an opening that way.

He didn't have to wait very long. Urahara came up close to Ed's left, aiming quick, powerful strikes along his leg and midsection. Ed was able to block all of them except one, and it was the most painful. Urahara hit right in the juncture between thigh and metal and Ed let out a cry before jumping back.

He slid back a little ways and swallowed hard, realization dawning. Every attack Ed made never got through. The man seemed practically impenetrable! To make matters worse Urahara's attacks were not primarily made to knock him down or win outright. They were well placed; aiming to learn more about Ed without words, like where metal ended and flesh began. Urahara was barely even out of breath too and although he was bruised it would be nothing compared to what Ed would be sporting come morning.

The realization must have shown on his face because for a moment – just one fleeting moment – Urahara's expression dropped all pretenses. The look was cold, calculating and said everything Ed was dreading. _I'm going to defeat you. And you know it. _With a flash the look was gone, the smile was back in place but Ed had no doubts about what he saw.

"I could let you forfeit." Urahara said so softly Ed almost missed it.

"Not a chance old man." Ed growled. The comment seemed to affect the man and he flashed a rare genuine smile at the younger blonde.

"A fighter until the end. I like that." Urahara said, louder this time and came up fast for another attack. This one was different than all the others. His moves were lightning fast and hit with an ever increasing strength that had Ed sliding in the dirt with the force of them. He tried to get an attack in of his own but each time he tried another fist, another sandaled foot came at him. He was trying to keep up with the strikes and blows but they were almost too fast now. He received a blow to his solar plexus that whooshed all the air out of his lungs and pitched him backwards to land flat on his back. Within a blink of an eye Urahara was above him with a hand inches from his throat.

"I believe that makes me the winner!" Urahara said in a sing-song voice that just pissed Ed off more and knocked the hand away with a scowl.

"Fuck." Ed wheezed pathetically and decided he would say no more until he could get a full breath into his lungs.

Urahara got up from his stance over Ed and offered a hand to the younger blonde. Ed took it to get on shaky knees.

* * *

Ed tested his left arm, opening and closing his fist as the amber healing light disappeared. Orihime was actually quite good at healing with her powers and she had spent a few minutes with Urahara, then turned her gifts to Ed.

"Is that better?" She asked.

"Yeah actually, even the back of my head feels better." Ed gave her a rueful smile as he rubbed said appendage and got up from his seated position.

"I'm just glad I could help, you fought really well over there." Orihime said and gave another sweet smile.

"Not well enough though." Ed muttered to himself and started walking over to where Urahara was sitting with the rest of the group alongside Orihime.

"Ah Ed you fought gallantly! Please take a seat; we need to have a little talk, you and I." Urahara said in a disgustingly happy voice that Ed wanted to punch him for. The moment the fight had ended he had placed his hat back on his head and now was glittering good-natured shadowed grey eyes on Ed.

"Alright Urahara, ask your questions." Ed grumbled, taking a seat across from the hat man and between Al on his left, and Ichigo on his right in the loose circle the group had created.

"Let's start at the beginning then, where exactly are you from and how did you get here?"

"Like we said we're from Central City, Amestris but you won't find it on any of your maps. I know, I checked. From what Al and I gathered we come from a parallel world much like yours but with some obvious differences."

"And how you got here?" Urahara asked, tapping his closed fan against his chin.

Ed shrugged a little. "Through a gate and just… Landed here."

"You make it sound like it was an accident." Ichigo said, nudging Ed with his shoulder.

"Well it kinda was. The last time I went through the gate I ended up in some place called London. That's where our father was. He was actually thrown into the gate with no way out and eventually worked his way there."

"London? As in London England?" Uryuu asked, a small frown turning down the corners of his lips in confusion.

"Honestly I don't know, although the map Urahara has at the back of the shoten showed that there's a London England here so maybe. But when I was there a huge war was going on." Ed replied as he looked to Uryuu. The archer reacted immediately, his eyebrows shot up his forehead and his eyes went wide.

"There hasn't been a war in England in over half a century!"

"How did you get back?" Urahara asked.

"Well I'm not too sure about that either." Ed responded, looking back to the older blonde. "It was a life and death situation and I just… Clapped my hands." Ed shrugged a little.

"So you have the power to bring up this gate within yourself?" Urahara seemed intent now, his grey eyes piercing and fan all but forgotten in his hand.

"Yeah but I don't know how well it's gonna work in getting both Al and I home. Besides, going through that gate isn't exactly a picnic." Ed murmured.

"Especially since the doors are locked on this side." Urahara nodded a little in understanding.

"What?!" Ed shouted in disbelief. "The gate has opened here before?"

Urahara nodded once more. "Yes its surprising isn't it. As it turns out there was some sort of commotion about four hundred years ago because of some stone. The doors to this unknown gate blew open and started pulling reishi through it into what I'm guessing is your world at very high concentrations. It was to such an extent that Yamamoto Sou-Taichou himself had to lock the doors down before it endangered all of soul society."

"Did you say four hundred years ago?" Al's voice was surprisingly harsh, cutting across the few murmurs in the group.

"Yes I did." Urahara said looking curiously at Al.

"Was this the only disturbance?" Ed asked. If the creation of the Philosophers stone pulled energy through this world once it could possibly have been a randomized fluke. If it happened both times though…

"Ah a very intelligent question Ed, as I have come to expect from you." Urahara gave Ed a wide smile. "No it turns out there was another disturbance in recent history but the doors were luckily locked so no reishi was pulled through. Why do you ask?"

Ed and Al shared a long look. Al was the first to break it, looking very intently at a small rock near his foot.

"The Philosophers stone." Al breathed.

"This explains a lot more than I thought." Ed said quietly, resting his flesh hand on his chin in thought. This would explain the connection between this world and theirs. It wasn't some random occurrence that they landed here, it was because of the philosophers stone! More than likely it was because Al came to save him from the gate while he still had the stone in him. If he had showed up while Envy was still travelling in the gate it was the most probable reason they came here.

"The philosopher's stone?" Urahara asked.

"Yes, it's a stone used by alchemists. As far as we know it was only made twice." Ed said absently while still trying to think things over.

"And twice is two times too many." Al added heavily.

"What's so great about this philosopher's stone anyways?" Ichigo asked looking between the two alchemists.

"Yeah and why would it try to suck all the spirit particles out of soul society?" Renji was also frowning in thought; he was looking just as bothered as Ed felt about the situation.

"The philosopher's stone has huge alchemic power. Having it means you're no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange!" Al commented intently, bringing his arms out and shaking them for emphasis.

"Its creation without sacrifice. But it comes at too high a price." Ed dropped his eyes to the same small pebble Al had found so much interest in only moments before.

"What kind of price would that be?" Urahara's question was light but the undertone was pure steel.

Ed sighed. He knew this was coming the moment he lost the fight. He lifted his head and looked straight at Urahara. If he was going to tell them, it might as well be as straightforward as possible.

"The main ingredient in the stone is human lives." Ed said simply. The moment the words left his lips the entire circle of people erupted in astonished and shocked conversation.

"Everyone calm down!" Urahara yelled and tapped his staff on the ground in the centre of the circle, getting everyone's attention back to the situation at hand. "What do you mean 'human lives'?" Urahara's grim tone brooked no getting out of the answer. Al sat up a little and looked up at Urahara.

"There's only been two events of a philosophers stone being created. The first one was about four hundred years ago and an entire city was used in the creation of it. Not just one human life is used in its creation but _thousands_."

"And spirit particles are from people who have passed on from soul society." Rukia nodded slowly, her violet eyes bright and intelligent, taking in all the information. "So in a sense its taking spirit energy from not only your side, but ours as well, and at a highly concentrated source." Ed nodded towards her.

"What happened the second time?" Urahara asked, looking between the two alchemists seated across from him.

"It's not a pretty story." Ed sighed out.

"And the first one was?" Renji asked sarcastically. Ed turned to glare at the redhead.

"Hey you wanna hear the story or not?" Ed grumbled. Personally he would have been much happier in not talking about this at all but a deal was a deal, no matter how crappy it was.

"I'm listening; it's just – this is all so fucked up." Renji said lifting a hand to rub at his temples.

"You don't know the half of it." Ed replied. "The second time it happened they tried to use a war and put all the casualties to use for the stone."

"But it wasn't enough." Al added, taking up the story. "Eventually the stone was re-made again."

Ed nodded and looked over at Urahara "Another city was used – This one was called Liore. People we knew there – people whose faces I can still remember – their all gone, all because of that fucking stone."

"Were you two involved with the creation?" Urahara opened his fan slowly to brush it before his nose. Ed barked a quick bitter laugh at that.

"Not just involved, we've been chasing after that stone for six years. When we finally found out what the main component in the stone was we tried to stop it but we got too close. Way too close."

"What do you mean too close? Is that how you lost your arm and leg Ed?" Uryuu asked, lines of concern marring the pale skin between his brows. Ed hesitated and shared a look with Al. Bringing up that bit of information might be a little too much at the moment and the responding look his brother gave said pretty much the same thing. _Too soon._

Urahara caught the shared look and snapped his fan shut and gave them both a hard look.

"You've told us this much so far, you might as well tell us the rest."

"We tried to stop it but it all blew up in our face is what happened." Ed murmured and folded his arms across his chest.

"And I became the philosopher's stone." Al said softly.

"What?!" Ichigo and Chad said incredulously at the same time. Ed looked over at the two and nodded his head slowly at the admission.

"It's true; Al was caught in the centre of the city. An old friend realized he was going to die-"

"And he did the only thing he could – Transferred the transmutation circle onto my armor." Al finished.

"Do you have this stone here with you now?" Uryuu asked looking towards Al, dark blue eyes intent. The younger alchemist shook his head a little.

"No, it was used up when Ed and Envy…" There was a small pause where Al's shoulders tensed up, his shoulders riding up near his ears and tears started glistening in the corners of his eyes. "He killed Ed! I had to use it!" He cried desperately.

"So Envy is from your side. I thought as much." Urahara murmured, head tipped in thought to shade his eyes completely from sight.

"Wait so that means you have hollows on your side as well?" Rukia asked.

"No, Envy isn't a hollow; at least he wasn't on our side. When he came through the gate he must have gone through some sort of change." Ed gave a little shake of his head. He was still unsure how _that_ little issue happened.

"So what was he?" Chad asked softly from the far side of the circle. Once again the two boys hesitated, both their heads lowered and Ed sat back on his heels a little.

"We need the whole story if we're going to be fighting him." Renji groused.

"You want to know what Envy is?" He said softly, pain edging the words coming out of his mouth. "Water: 35 Liters, carbon: 20 kilograms, ammonia: 4 liters, lime: 1.5 kilograms, phosphorus: 800 grams, salt: 250 grams, saltpeter: 100 grams, sulphur: 80 grams, fluorine: 7.5 grams, iron: 5 grams, silicon: 3 grams and trace amounts from 15 other elements." He recited. He knew those measurements off by heart now. He would never be able to forget.

"What is that?" Orihime asked in her sweet voice. Urahara furrowed his brow in thought.

"If my math is correct that is what the average adult human body is composed of. But why… Oh no." Urahara's eyes went wide and looked almost disbelievingly between the two boys.

"I don't understand." Rukia said softly. Ed could hear Al sigh. God he _hated_ having this conversation.

"There's a type of alchemy that's forbidden and it's called human transmutation. If the alchemist is desperate enough and has enough knowledge on the subject they can try to bring someone back."

"The thing is life only flows in one direction." Ed said in the same soft voice as his brother. "When people try to create human life there's nothing that can be traded for the soul. _Nothing_. So although the body is created the soul…"

"Are you saying you created Envy?" Uryuu's tone was low and thick with emotion.

"No we didn't but that's what he is. In our world their called homunculi. They're human bodies without human souls." Al replied, looking the archer full in the face.

"Well if you didn't create him then who did?" Ichigo was looking pointedly between the two alchemists. Uryuu's eyes widened as a thought came to him.

"It was your father wasn't it. Why would he want to play God like that?" Uryuu looked almost ill at the information.

"Because Envy is our half-brother." Ed said in a flat voice. Just the simple memory of Envy showing him his true face was almost too much and he rubbed the small space between his brows with his flesh hand and took a deep steadying breath. He had found that out only moments before Envy had killed him.

"And I take it he's pissed that he was created." Renji's voice cut through Ed's thoughts and he nodded solemnly.

"Well it makes sense why he was transferred into a hollow's body when he came here. He's not a human soul. You see some hollows are actually born as hollows, just like some souls are born in soul society. His soul must match up to that of a hollow." Urahara mused aloud.

"Ok so if his body looks like a hollow then we should be able to kill him with a zanpakuto." Rukia directed her comment at Urahara. The older man nodded towards her.

"I'm almost sure of it."

"This is a lot of information to take in." Rukia murmured and got a few nods from the surrounding group. _And we're not even half done if Urahara has anything to say about this._ Ed thought darkly.

"I have one or two more questions and then we can be done. Ed you said that you had destroyed others like him before?" Urahara asked. The eyes Ed met with this time held no mirth in them, they were almost apologetic as he asked the next question.

"Yes." Ed sighed. "In our world the homunculi lose power when they're around a piece of their original bodies. It reminds them of what they were and it weakens them. I killed when I had to. Even…. Even her." His voice cracked on the last syllable and swallowed convulsively. Al took his hand in quiet support and squeezed his hand.

"Her?" Ichigo asked curiously.

"Please don't make us say it." Al's hand was squeezing his tightly now. The tension within the circle of people was hard to deal with and there was a long pause before anyone spoke.

"You brought someone back didn't you?" Urahara finally asked, low voiced and almost reverently, if it wasn't for the content of the question.

"We were fools back then. We thought alchemy was the answer to it all. How wrong we were." Ed replied not looking up from his lap. He couldn't face the eyes that would be looking at him, judging him for the deeds he had done so long ago. "That's why I have these metal limbs and Al looks like he's ten when he should be sixteen."

"Doing a human transmutation opens a gate that should never be opened." Al stated. "We tried to bring mom back. We just wanted to see her smile again. But what we made that night wasn't… Wasn't – human." The last word was a whisper. Neither of them could say what it was, but it was wrong, an abomination to life itself. She was their sin, their foolish sin.

"I traded my left leg for mom's life and my right arm for Al's soul when the gate sucked him in. I put his soul in the only thing I could find at the time – a suit of armor. That's why I have automail Uryuu." He raised his right arm, still without gloves and the light flickered off the metal making it gleam grey-blue with the movement

"And when we came through the gate here my soul was transferred back to my body. I guess it was still in the gate." Al said sounding happy for the first time during this entire conversation.

"That's why you went chasing after the philosophers stone wasn't it?" Urahara asked.

"We needed it to put our bodies back to the way they were. Half the plan worked, Al got his body back. I can live with automail for the rest of my life happily knowing that he can eat and sleep again." He gave his brother a small smile and was relieved to have one given in return.

"Al you actually were the philosopher's stone is that correct?" Urahara turned his shaded eyes to the younger alchemist, his eyes were calculating again and Ed started getting suspicious. Every time that man had that specific look something bad seemed to come of it.

"Well it was when I was in the armor but my soul was attached so yeah I guess. Why?" Al's tone was curious and almost sounded lighter after getting all the secrets out.

"You see, if your soul was attached to the armor at the same time as the philosopher's stone your soul might have a similar frequency to it."

"That's it! Urahara you're a genius!" Ed jumped to his feet. Urahara gave Ed a genuine smile, showing a flash of white teeth.

"Finally someone recognizes my intellectual worth!"

"Ok can someone translate for me? I don't get geek speak." Ichigo furrowed his brow at the blonde now starting to pace back and forth between the group of people in thought.

"It's simple Ichigo, all things carry a frequency – a vibration as it were. Our vibration runs differently then you because we're from a different world. What we would need in order to get home is match up the gate frequency with Al since he would have the strongest because of the philosopher's stone." He looked excitedly towards his brother and could see a mirroring excitement starting to glimmer in the caramel depths as well.

"But I thought Urahara said the gate was locked on this side." Renji said looking dubiously between the pacing Ed and the widely smiling hat-man.

"True but it was opened to this world, not soul society." Al murmured.

"That's right, which means we have a possibility of getting home. A real possibility. Holy shit Al we might actually be able to get home!" Ed cried and stopped pacing in front of his brother and Al got up as well, a huge smile plastered on his face. This was almost too good to be true!

"What I would recommend is testing this theory then." Urahara said as he also stood from the rock he was perched on and gave a small stretch. "Ed would you be able to bring the gate up?" He asked nonchalantly. Ed's eyes bugged in his head.

"Are you out of your damn mind?!" Ed shouted. Urahara gave an amused snort.

"One minute he calls me a genius, the next he tells me I'm out of my mind."

"Opening that gate is easier said than done Urahara." Al's sharp voice cut through the amusement.

"And it's not like walking through the shoten doors either." Ed added in the same tone.

"I'm starting to understand that." The older man gave a sharp look at the two alchemists. "What I'm suggesting though is seeing if we can actually open the gate here and see if the frequency matches Al's reiatsu. That's all, no travelling."

"But how do we keep the hands from pulling us in?" Al asked looking worriedly between the two blondes.

"There are hands in the gate?" Orihime asked from her seat on the ground.

"There are many things in that gate. And I'm pretty sure none of them are good." Ed said giving her a quick look.

"I don't know if this is a good idea brother." Al's worried expression reminded him so much of the day they tried to bring their mother back that he had to swallow before replying and tried his best to give him a smile.

"It's a friggin horrible idea Al." Ed shook his head then looked to the older blonde man. "Urahara we're gonna need a backup plan in case something goes wrong, like some way of closing that gate at a moment's notice."

"Hmm… I'll have to bring down Tessai for this then, he's a master of kidou and frightfully strong." Urahara murmured into his fan.

"That's the shinigami magic stuff that Renji's really bad at right?" Al asked inelegantly. Renji bristled at the comment.

"Hey back off little man! Now that I know you're actually sixteen I have no problem in kicking your ass."

"haha try it, I'll turn you into a rocking horse." Al lifted his chin a little and cracked his knuckles. Renji decided that discretion was a better part of valor and didn't say more but gave Al one more black look.

"Will kidou actually work with this?" Ed asked. He barely even heard of this Kidou crap.

Urahara shrugged. "I don't see why not, it's helped with many things before, hell this entire training facility is protected with kidou barriers. No one even knows it's here because of it."

"Urahara, by any chance do you have something that can amplify reiatsu?" Ed asked looking hopefully at the older man.

"Oh I think I might be able to whip something up." Urahara said lightly but a mischievous glint was in those eyes that Ed didn't completely trust. He decidedly shook the feeling off and squared his shoulders. A plan was a plan, and he was damn happy to have one finally.

"Good. Ok Urahara, you go talk to Tessai and get that reiatsu amplifier," He pointed his hand towards the man, Urahara gave another smile and nodded his head, then headed for the stairs. "Chad we're probably going to need your help in getting the doors closed if anything happens," Chad nodded in understanding. "Ichigo, Renji, Rukia and Uryuu when it opens we're might need your weapons to keep the hands away from us so stay alert." The four nodded and started talking about strategies for placement. "Orihime your shield is gonna be needed too." Orihime nodded solemnly. "Al you help me find a circle that will bring this gate up and if anyone else comes down here when it happens- For fuck sakes, make sure they stay the hell away from those doors." Ed said pointing a finger in the direction of each person. Ichigo stood up and clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"I can see how you could be a major now." Ichigo said and gave him a wry smile.

* * *

~Symphonyofsilence

Please review! they pump my ego so well! I also love to hear that you guys are enjoying the story :)


	7. Seek and Ye Shall Find

Hello everyone! here is the brand new chappie - Seek and Ye Shall Find. This one is a little angsty and there might even be some romance thrown in here somewhere too (I can never resist a good romance)

So here y'all go!

* * *

_Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find;_

___Knock and the door shall be opened unto you._

_For everyone that asks receives, and he that seeks will find,_

_And to him that knocks it shall be opened._

* * *

Al had to admit he was feeling pretty good since Urahara gave him that round blue pill. It was like everything was normal and then **-BAM-** unlimited energy! And really, who didn't want unlimited energy? The only real drawback was the fact that he really couldn't stop talking and Brother was starting to give him dubious glances out from under his golden bangs the faster he talked.

"And I never thought food would taste as good as it did! I almost forgot but man am I glad I remember now, candy is so sweet and meat is so meaty. Although I don't really like those little green ball thingies, I think their called peas. The only bad thing about being in my body again is going to the bathroo-mff frmmf lnggpft," Ed had clapped a hand over his mouth but the moment the thought was in Al's head he just couldn't let it sit silently. Ed watched him with a rather pink face and after a few more muffled words he removed the hand covering his mouth in the hopes that the topic had changed.

"-looks kinda like-frrmgh hnngh grffht-"

"Urahara what the hell was in that thing you gave Al?" Ed asked, looking from his brother to the shopkeeper talking quietly with Tessai across the training room floor.

"Oh it was just a little gift from the 4th division. It's a reiatsu booster they use in times of battle in order to keep up with all the casualties. He might be a little on the energetic side for a few hours."

"fantastic." Ed said dryly and kept his mouth over Al's rambling mouth. Rukia had come up alongside the two and gave a long look to Al.

"That's made for people on our side of the gate, are you sure it won't change his reiatsu Urahara?" Rukia queried. Urahara shook his head.

"No it works by boosting the persons own reiatsu. He'll be fine. He also might start to glow but that's simply the reaction of his boosted reiatsu."

"I think he's starting to glow right now! It's a really nice red color." Orihime said as she looked over Al. Sure enough she was right, he could feel his body start to tingle just the tiniest bit and when he raised his arm to look it over it was surrounded by a faint crimson light that looked eerily close to the glow the philosophers' stone gave off. His rambled, muffled words died out as he took a closer look at himself. It must have been the connection he had to the stone; it was the only real explanation he had for glowing that exact color. He caught Ed's eye and could see some dark emotion that Al wasn't sure of as he looked over his small frame.

"What's wrong brother?" Al asked as he pushed Ed's hand from his mouth.

"The color. It's the same as the philosophers' stone. It's changed you in so many ways." Ed's head tipped downwards so his hair fell in his eyes, hiding the sorrow Al knew was there.

"Of course it was going to change me. It was either that or death remember?" Al said lightly and brought up a hand to rest on his brother's forearm. Ed gave a quick laugh at that.

"And now we're using you as bait for this fucking experiment. I'm a horrible brother." Ed said softly.

"It needs to be done, and I would have done it whether you asked me to or not. We need to get home. I wanna see Winry again." The words just tumbled out and Al cursed himself for the slip. He could feel his face heat up and his brother's all too intelligent eyes snapped to his.

"Winry huh?" Ed asked with a knowing smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Al didn't bother saying anything else, just nodded his head with flaming cheeks, then inwardly blamed it on Urahara and the energy pill, and made a mental note to himself to grow his hair out.

"Alright I got everyone setup on the hills back there. We're ready any time you guys are." Renji stated to Urahara and gave a quick smile to Ed and Al. The two boys nodded at that.

Renji was actually a great help in strategizing everyone, as well as where the gate should go after he had received an explanation of the size of the thing. Ed and Al were directed to an area near the centre of the facility where a wide flat area approximately twenty feet by twenty feet was flanked on three sides by large hills. The first one was directly behind where he, Ed, Orihime and Tessai were going to be and Renji had decided that Rukia and Ichigo were to be placed on that shelf. The second one, off to Al's left was at an angle where Uryuu was placed so that he would have a good vantage point with his bow. The third hill off to Al's right was where Renji was taking up his place and everyone was cautioned about what could happen if that gate were to open.

Tessai and Orihime were walking up behind Ed and Al to take up their places for the experiment. According to the plan Tessai was going to use some kind of Kidou in order to keep the doors closed so that Urahara could get some readings alongside Chad, who was asked to stand beside the gate and push the doors closed if in fact they did open. Truthfully Al would have been happy in not doing this at all. Just thinking about bringing that gate back up gave him chills and turned his stomach. The problem was that in order for them to get home they would actually have to travel through that thing. Again. And he grit his teeth at just the thought of doing something like that.

"Tessai, Orihime are you two ready?" Urahara asked as he watched the two take up their places, Tessai behind them and Orihime between Ed and his own now glowing body. They both nodded at the shopkeeper.

"Tessai you know what to do. Orihime remember to bring up your shield to protect these boys. Now is everyone ready?" Urahara asked as he came up alongside the four people standing in the centre of the training facility.

"No but we don't really have much of a choice now do we." Ed sighed and tightened his fists that rested at his sides. "Al I'm ready whenever you are." Al looked up at his brother with worried but excited eyes.

"We're gonna need to make a circle that will bring up the gate but without the aid of human transmutation. This is going to be tricky brother."

"Tell me about it." Ed said and the two started talking about different circles that could be used. Eventually they decided on the human transmutation circle that would most definitely bring up the gate. Ed stepped forward into where they had designated the circle to be and clapped his hands. The blue light crackled along the ground in a diameter of ten feet and when the light faded a six pointed black alchemy circle surrounded Ed and Al completely.

"There I think that's what we're looking for." Ed nodded. Al walked back to the outer edge; he took in the circle and thought it over a little. If they were wanting to do an actual human transmutation then this would be perfect but since they wanted to bring up the gate it felt like there was something missing. He stared hard at the circle on the ground, as if willing the information to be found in his head.

"I don't know brother; this one is strictly for human transmutation. We would actually need a human for this one to work." Al said giving a small shake of his head. The circle needed something else, something more.

"Well what do you suggest?" Ed asked. There was a long pause before Al finally shrugged.

"This might work." He replied and clapped his hands in order to change the circle. Instead of a blue light it was red, matching his glowing reiatsu and it flared out, covering and changing the markings his brother had placed only a few moments ago. When the light faded and the new circle came into view it was still a six pointed alchemy circle but the points looked more like a star, in the centre he placed the eye that was on the doors of the gate. Ed looked over the changes and eventually nodded his head.

"I think that will work better. Good job Al." Ed clapped a hand on his shoulder but didn't look into his eyes.

"Thanks." Al started to feel a sort of tension fill him. He had never wanted to see this gate again but looking down at the ten foot circle realization struck home with a sickening thud. They were actually going to bring up the gate and not on accident either. This time it was for real.

"Wow that looks kinda creepy." Orihime said as she took a look over the boys' shoulders at the black lined circles streaming across the training ground floor.

"Wait a few minutes and you'll be able to see it up close and personal. Urahara we're ready." Ed said. Urahara nodded in Ed's direction with a small smile.

"Good to hear. Tessai here will use a binding spell to keep the doors closed. Now where did I put that detector…" He commented absently while patting down the folds of his clothing.

"I thought you were ready?!" Ed yelled out and Al could see that the tension he was feeling was starting to affect his brother as well, his jaw clenched and Ed's gold eyes glittered at the delay. Urahara slapped through all pockets twice, then his eyes landed on one of the larger rocks on the outskirts of the experiment area and pulled up his short walking staff and a small piece of equipment that Al was sure looked like a kid's tape recorder with a mic attached.

"Aha! Ok now I'm ready." Urahara gave a wide smile.

"Is that a fisher price toy?" He heard Ichigo ask behind him in tones of deep amusement.

"Why yes it is Ichigo, luckily I was able to remove all the electronics from inside and switch it out rather easily. The mic does a good job of picking up reiatsu vibrations. Quite ingenious don't you think?"

"I swear you make the weirdest shit sometimes." Ichigo said while shaking his head slowly from side to side on the rock pillar directly behind Al.

"Ok everyone take your places." Ed said alongside him and the group reacted immediately. Ichigo being the first, he pulled his zanpakuto from off his back and held it by his side.

"Santen Kesshun!" Orihime stepped back a few paces and created a small amber shield that would protect him and his brother once they were done with the circle.

"Hiho Zabimaru!" Renji shouted to Al's right and he watched as his sword changed from a normal katana to slotted, spiked metal pieces attached by metal chords of some kind that looked quite nasty if you were to be hit by it.

"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki." Rukia called out confidently and the sword in her hand changed to a beautiful shimmering white with a long tail.

"Shinigami always seem to be a little on the showy side." Uryuu said derisively off to Al's left and simply raised his arm and formed his bow. Al gave a small smile to the archer before turning back to his brother.

"Ok Al we're both gonna have to bring this up. Ready?" Ed asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Al said somberly. The two locked eyes and stepped to the outer edge of the circle. Al took a deep, shaky breath and tried to steady his hands against the emotions he felt in trying to bring up the gate.

"Ok brother, on three." Al gave a small nod to his brother. "One… two… THREE!" Al yelled the last word and the two clapped their hands simultaneously, then placed their hands on the outer edge of the circle.

The moment his hand touched it he could feel the swirl of energy that was so like that day long ago in their fathers workshop and swallowed convulsively against the memories that bubbled up within him. The energy took its time working through each circle and line, starting with the outermost lines and working their way in. Ed's half glowed electric blue while Al's glowed a deep vermillion. When the two energies met they melded together forming a metallic purple color. Eventually the two colors completely mixed together and when the entire circle glowed purple the alchemic swirl of energy started to change, picking up speed and strength and wind started blowing, whipping their hair in small circles and pulling at their clothing.

The purple color seemed to throb and Al could hear the alchemy energy crackling loudly. Then without warning the energy flow surged upwards a good twenty feet into the air, completely blocking out any view of the training facility beyond.

"We gotta get behind that shield!" Ed yelled in his ear. He was right, the light was starting to fade and he knew what was behind it. He let his brother haul him up and behind Orihime's shield. By the time they got there the purple had almost completely faded and Al could feel himself break into a cold sweat.

His brother still hadn't let go of his arm and he knew without a doubt it would be bruised come morning but at that moment he didn't care. His eyes were fixed in horrified fascination on the scene before him. The gate had appeared all right. The purple light threw the shadows into sharp relief, making the stone glow an unearthly color of grey, blue, red and silver. The large columns alongside the doors were surrounded by stone bodies and looked as if they were in some kind of eternal dance stuck on pause. The crowning above the doorway held the same stone figures, holding up a secondary stone platform that was wide and flat, also a deep grey, but what held his utmost attention were the doors. They were wide, thick and high with the same swirling eye that was in the centre of the circle.

"Holy shit!" Renji cried from his perch. Tessai strode purposefully in front of Ed, Al and Orihime, then raised his hand.

"Bakudou number sixty three – Sajo Sabaku!" He yelled and a large, thick glowing gold chain wrapped itself entirely around the gate, effectively keeping it closed. Al took a steadying breath at that. One thing he really didn't want was for those doors to open. "Urahara you can make your observations." Tessai nodded towards Urahara and the older blonde started walking up alongside the gateway, holding the mic out in front of him. After a few moments Urahara's mouth turned down in a thoughtful frown.

"Hmm. I'm getting some mixed readings here, it looks as though-" Urahara was cut off and his eyes widened in shock as the doors started to creak open. The gold chains strained and pulled tightly against the slowly opening doors.

"Urahara get back!" Al yelled. The shopkeeper only had a moment to jump out of the way to land beside Chad before the chains completely broke and the doors swung open, revealing complete darkness.

"It broke the bakudou chains?!" Rukia's tone was incredulous but Al had no time to say anything. The eyes started to open, all of them looking at him, into him, searing through his small body and he grabbed his brother's hand from his arm and held it tightly. He chanced a look at his brother and saw the same desperate and horrified face he knew he had on his own young features.

"Tessai get behind Orihime's shield NOW!" Renji yelled at the shocked, large man. The words seemed to pull him out of his trance and he scrambled back behind the shield and the three others standing mute and wide eyed at the open doorway.

"Look at that! It's like a thousand eyes all staring at me." Ichigo said uncomfortably. No sooner had the words left his mouth than the black arms started slinking out of the darkness at a high rate of speed, reaching for anything and anyone it could get a hold of.

"Al get down!" Ed yelled and threw him to the training floor, only seconds before one of the arms had come completely around the shield and a visibly shaking Orihime to grab at his glowing body. The hand grasped at air for a quick moment before pulling away and aiming for a different target that Al couldn't see.

"Hadou number eleven – Tsuzuri Raiden!" Tessai shouted behind him and the man threw a wide rope around the gate like a lasso. Tessai pulled the rope hard and a gold electrical current surged into the rope. The gate doors trembled and started to close slightly from the double attack but it was too late, the eyes were already open, the hands already grasping for anyone they could reach. The electrical current along the ropes only managed to singe some of the stone before that snapped as well, the rope falling to the ground between them.

"Holy shit this is bad. We need to destroy that circle!" Ed yelled over the clashing sounds of swords against black hands. A fearful glint was lighting his gold eyes.

"But how are we going to close the gate when we can't get to the transmutation circle?!" Al asked worriedly.

"I don't know yet I need a minute to think this – Urahara look out!" Ed raised a hand to the shopkeeper. One of the hands had slunk around his left foot, pulling the older blonde completely off his feet.

"Sing Behihime!" Urahara shouted and in one deft move pulled a sword out of his short walking staff with a glow of bright red and cut into the hand around his foot. The hand immediately coiled back and Urahara was dropped in a rather undignified heap to the ground below before grabbing his hat and scrabbling to get alongside Chad, now trying to bodily close the doors with little luck.

Al was starting to feel sick. How the hell could this happen?! The hands never reached for anyone and everyone before, the two times he remembered being near the gate it only tried to pull in the one opening it. He had no more time to contemplate the matter though as he watched in fearful amazement as another black hand stretched outwards, this time towards Uryuu. The archer scowled darkly and tried to jump out of the way but the hands were fast and wrapped around his waist, pulling him at a high rate of speed towards the gate. He pulled his bow back and shot three arrows into the long column of the arm. It Jerked and dropped the archer as if stung, and Uryuu landed heavily on his shoulder about ten feet off to the left of Ed, Al, Tessai and Orihime.

"The doors! Someone close those damn doors before we all get pulled through!" Uryuu shouted as he pulled himself to his knees, a hand going to the shoulder he landed on. His arm hung at an odd angle and Al swallowed thickly.

"We have no choice brother! We have to get to the circle and destroy it!" Al shouted. Ed nodded quickly but before Al could make another move he was pulled into the air, arms wrapping around neck, arms and legs. _Oh god not again. _

"Brother! HELP!!!!" Al screamed and reached out with his right arm in order to grab hold of his brother.

"It went right through my shield!" Orihime cried and dove out of the way of another arm at the last moment so that the hand grasped at empty air before changing direction.

"LET GO OF HIM!" Ed screamed and Tessai and Ed both grabbed a hold of Al's body. He could feel the disgusting oily hands wrapping tighter around him, pulling him towards the terrifying darkness of the gate.

"Aim for the arms everyone!" Uryuu shouted.

"Chad we have to close those doors NOW!" Urahara cried and started helping Chad push on the heavy doors but it was no use, they didn't even budge an inch.

"I'm trying! They won't close! We need more help!" Chad shouted back.

"Tessai give me a hand!" Urahara didn't even look up from his task, desperately pushing alongside Chad in order to try to close them before Al got pulled through. Even with Tessai and Ed trying to hold him back he was still slowly sliding towards the gate.

"I can't I'm trying to keep Al from going in!" Tessai's grim voice carried to the shopkeeper and he looked up with worried grey eyes at Al being dragged closer.

"Getsuga TENSHOU!" Al heard Ichigo's call and a blue energy arc surged towards the upper portion of the gate. The doors rattled with a reverberating boom and all the eyes on the upper portion of the gate closed simultaneously as the center of the energy burst went inside the darkness.

Al was almost at the doors now, only a few feet away and his entire body strained against the blackness he was being inexplicably drawn towards. He couldn't be sucked inside again, it simply wasn't an option and fought tooth and nail to tighten the grip he had on his brother. Tessai's large hands holding his legs were tight and strong and he could feel his body pulling uncomfortably in two directions. More arms enclosed around his body, trapping him more in their darkened grip and he screamed unintelligible words of fear and distress.

Al looked fearfully at the inside of the gate he was being pulled towards and for a small moment time seemed to slow down. Everything started to come into a strange kind of focus in the darkness beyond the eyes. It was like a blurry picture of somewhere that he had seen before and he squinted his eyes at what was being shown to him. It seemed the closer he got the more in focus the picture became. It looked like an evening sky over white buildings…

"Tessai hold him and for the love of everything don't let him go!" He heard Ed's hard voice and time started to move again. He looked away from the darkness and saw the look in his brothers eyes. There was no fear, no hesitation, just the same steely determination he had always known his brother for. _I'm not letting you go again _His eyes seemed to say and he let go of the death grip he had on Al's midsection. Al gave him what he could of a nod, letting him know that he understood. In the blink of an eye Ed clapped his hands and smashed them into the circle under his feet. There was a loud explosion, a large cloud of grey smoke encased him and the black hands surrounding him abruptly snaked away.

Al fell hard on to the training ground floor and heard an almighty thump as the gate doors closed. He looked over to watch the last of the gate fade, shimmering into nothingness. It was like he could still feel the arms around him and looked down to see that he was in fact correct, one black arm was still coiled tightly around one of his legs.

"Get it off!" Al cried, shaking hands trying and failing to pull the black, repulsive thing off his body.

"Al your still here oh thank god your still here." Ed coughed through the smoke and hugged him tightly. Al didn't have time to hug back.

"GET IT OFF ME!" he screeched again and Ed pulled a smoke singed face away to see the remaining arm wrapped tightly around his leg. The last chunk was leading to where the gate was only moments ago and flopping like a landed fish on the training ground. Ed made an undignified noise of revulsion in the back of his throat and both Tessai and Ed helped to yank the thing off him.

"That was your gate?!" Chad asked breathlessly, dark eyes wide and chest heaving.

"That's what we had to get through in order to come here yeah." Ed said in a hoarse voice and coughed explosively again. The smoke was starting to clear and Al could see that where the transmutation circle once was there was now nothing more than a pile of rubble.

"Is everyone still here?" Orihime asked before a she started coughing from the smoke as well.

"I think so." Uryuu replied, still kneeling and holding his oddly angled arm.

"Al, Ed are you two alright?" Rukia landed lightly a few feet away and looked the two over. A small cut had formed along her right cheek and blood trickled down her pale skin, staining the white fabric underlining her shinigami uniform.

"Yeah I'm fine." Ed growled out in a smoke roughened voice.

"I t-think so. When the arms grabbed me I thought I saw something…" Al said in a wavering voice and sat up slowly.

"What did you see?" Ed asked and stood up, gritting his teeth at the scrapes and burns he was sure to have.

"I think I saw home brother." Al replied. "It was evening there, and I'm almost sure that it was Central. I saw the large white buildings…" he swallowed the sob that almost lodged in his throat. He was so close to getting home.

"Large white buildings huh? That sounds like central alright. At least we know we can get to the other side then." Ed croaked in a hoarse voice.

"I can't believe those things went right through my shield." Orihime said as she dusted herself off.

"It also broke down all those barriers that Tessai put up. Don't blame yourself." Ichigo had come up alongside the group on the ground and patted Orihime's shoulder in consolation. She gave a half hearted smile to Ichigo and nodded a little.

"Are you ok Uryuu? I saw one of the arms attack you." Chad had come up alongside the archer, helping him to get slowly on his feet.

"I'm fine Sado. You think some skinny black arm could take me down?" Uryuu gave a cocky grin but it faltered when he moved his arm and he leaned into the larger teens frame. Chad quirked an eyebrow at the dark haired teen. There was a pause in which Uryuu grimaced in pain. "Ok so there is a possibility that my arm _may_ be dislocated, but other than that I am the absolute peak of health." Uryuu grumbled and Chad gave a snort of laughter and tightened his arm around Uryuu's uninjured shoulder.

"Holy shit that was some friggin' scary stuff." Renji said. Al looked over at the redhead and noticed a large cut had opened up above his right eyebrow and blood was streaking down his face.

"Well it's good to know we still got it." Ed said with a bitter laugh.

"What do you mean brother?"

"Never mind Al. Let's just get everyone healed up." Ed took another long look at his brother and gave a forced, wan smile.

"Well this is an interesting little specimen indeed." Urahara grinned and limped heavily over to the still wriggling arm.

"That's what you're worried about?! Fuck Urahara, you Uryuu and Al almost got pulled in!" Ichigo gave the older blonde a dark look.

"Well since we're all in one piece and no one was pulled through I would consider this a good end to our little experiment don't you think? Besides this little wriggling item here might hold the key to how this gate ticks, and how to get them home without the earlier catastrophe."

Al watched as Urahara removed his torn black haori, then picked the long black arm with thumb and index finger and placed it neatly inside the fabric. He wrapped the haori around it and slung it across his back.

"I don't know about all of you but I think we need some healing. Tessai do you think you would be up to the task?" Urahara turned to the older man. Tessai crossed his arms over his chest and gave a quick nod. "Good to hear. I think the first would be Uryuu, then Ed since he looks more than a little singed around the edges."

"I can help as well Urahara." Orihime gave a small smile and walked towards Uryuu while Tessai grabbed Ed's shoulder and started murmuring words of a healing kidou.

Al sighed and slumped back into the rubble under him. Even with the energy pill he was given he still felt drained after all that.

* * *

Ed sat on the roof of the shoten watching the stars gleam their pinpricks of light against the velvet black of night. He usually wouldn't be sitting out on a cold night like this as it affected the portals of his automail, making the junctures ache and the cold seep into his bones but tonight he ignored the pain. He wanted to be alone from all the people currently still in the small shop getting healed. His mind was just too full from the situation earlier and he sighed heavily, watching his breath puff white and pull away on the light breeze.

He should have realized the futility of bringing up the gate without the possibility of the doors not opening. Once the gate had reared its huge ugly head it had no choice but to open, bringing all Ed's nightmares into a painful fruition. It was only by sheer dumb luck that he was standing in the circle when Al almost got pulled in, and he thanked the lucky stars above him that he had the wherewithal to do what he had done. He and Tessai had both come away with some fantastic burns on their legs from the explosion, not to mention Uryuu's dislocated shoulder, Urahara's broken ankle, and Rukia's bruises. All of those injuries were nothing in comparison to what he had done to Al though.

Ed had cracked two of his ribs in trying to keep him from the entryway of the gate. He still heard his brothers terrified screams from being bodily lifted by those black hands. The worst of it though was his desperate flailing in trying to get that black arm that was wrapped hopelessly around his right leg. Ed had yanked it off as quickly as possible with a horrible feeling of revulsion, not only for the thing around him but the fact that the entire situation had blown up so spectacularly in their faces. He had used his brother like a frigging pawn in some stupid experiment and no amount of justification could placate the guilt he felt wracking his system.

He rubbed a hand over his face, trying to dispel the memory of earlier but nothing worked. He tried to remind himself that no one was pulled through and he was able to close the gate in time, and everyone had been ok in the end. _Only because of the people who knew how to heal us all up_ his thinking mind supplied him and his shoulders slumped at the truth of it.

_It's exactly like all the other quests we've done in trying to get our bodies back and trying to get the philosophers stone. More blood, more pain, more tears…_

"Yeah, we definitely still got it." He said in a soft, weary voice to the stars above.

"I had a feeling you were up here." He heard a voice behind him and turned to watch Rukia climbing the last few steps to the top of the roof, still in her shinigami uniform.

"Hey Rukia, be careful those slats are slippery." He said absently. "How did you know I was here?" He asked, not making eye contact.

"Simple, you want to be alone but still close to your brother and since the shoten is still full of people it would make sense you would come out here. How is Al by the way?" She asked, taking a seat to his right.

"A few cracked ribs and some bruises but Tessai was able to heal them up pretty good. The energy pill finally wore off so he's out cold." He shrugged a little and gave her a weary smile.

"That's probably a good thing; he would need the sleep after an afternoon like that." She nodded towards him.

"He says he's fine but I know him too well. He was just as terrified as I was of being sucked in. I can't believe I almost let it happen again." Ed shook his head slowly.

"You mean your brother getting sucked into the gate?" She asked softly, concern tingeing her words.

"Yeah I feel like this whole thing is my fault." He said sadly, looking to his clasped hands.

"You're such an idiot." She said with a derisive snort.

"What?! You can't say that!" Ed replied, looking at her for the first time that evening.

"I can say anything I want, especially when it's the truth." She gave him a direct look. "What happened back there wasn't your fault; you had no control over what those hands did anymore than I did. Besides you were the one who destroyed the circle and made sure no one got pulled in – at the possible expense of yourself I might add."

"But I was the one that opened it remember?"

Rukia sighed in exasperation and smacked him lightly on the back of his head. "With your brothers help. Or did you forget that little piece of information?"

"Ow! No I didn't forget." He yelped, rubbing the back of his head. "I still feel responsible though. Almost everyone got hurt, including you."

"Don't worry about me, I've had worse than a few cuts and bruises. If I remember correctly you were far more injured than I was." She said looking him over. He was one of the first people to get healed as his right leg and left arm were badly burned from the explosion. He shrugged a little.

"Maybe. I'm just glad it's all over now."

He paused for a moment, rubbing his recently healed leg. "Man you gotta show me how to do that kidou healing stuff, it sure beats three weeks of sitting around in a hospital bed getting better." He gave her a quick rueful smile.

"It wouldn't have taken you three weeks to heal from that." She said confidently, folding her arms across her chest.

"It so would have." Ed replied giving her a smirk.

"Now you're just trying to get sympathy." She said with a disdainful sniff but the corners of her mouth were pulling up in a small smile.

"Actually I'm trying to get you to teach me Kidou. Is it working?" He asked hopefully. Honestly learning healing kidou would definitely help considering all the times he had wrecked his body on missions, and being taught by Rukia as opposed to Tessai would definitely be a perk to the situation.

"We'll see." She gave him another smile before turning her eyes to the stars above and shivered slightly.

"You're cold. Here, take my jacket." Ed said, removing his red coat and holding it out to her.

"I'm not about to take your only jacket," She frowned a little at him, "anyways I'm pretty sure that metal arm of yours gets pretty cold out here. I've dealt with worse growing up in Rukongai." She said with a small shrug and her eyes glazed over slightly in some distant memory.

"I've heard of that. Ichigo told me it's in Soul Society right?"

"Yes. Renji and I grew up in the 78th district; it's one of the poorer slums. We spent many a winter huddling together for warmth."

"Well you're not there now so take my jacket already." He held out the coat again and shook it a little for emphasis. Rukia looked him over again and gave him an impish grin.

"I have a better idea." Before he could ask what the idea was she scooted over until their sides were flush against each other, took the jacket, and draped it over the both of them. Ed swallowed and tried to figure out where the heck to put his metal arm. Rukia gave him an amused look from under her lashes.

"I uh… guess this works too." He tried to sound nonchalant but the sound came out somewhat strangled. Eventually he placed his metal arm around her shoulders, the warmth of her body seeping into the metal and warming the juncture slightly.

They sat like that for some time, Ed trying to calm himself and Rukia looking up to the night sky. He had been close to girls before, he had even had a girlfriend once or twice – albeit for short stints - but it still didn't help the fact that every time he came close to a pretty, intelligent female that smelled as nice as she did all his tact somehow flew out the window.

"Are the stars the same in your world?" She asked quietly, eyes not moving from the glittering heavens.

"Some of them. We have those two constellations but there are a few stars I don't recognize." He pointed out the two he recognized; Orion and Gemini, always close together. Rukia nodded in understanding.

"It's the same in Soul Society. Some stars are the same but others are missing, or in a different place. It's interesting how that works." She looked up at him and he gave her a small smile, noticing once again how close they were sitting together and swallowed the nervous laughter he felt tickling the back of his throat.

They sat for a little longer, each taking solace in the quiet of night. Even with the comfort of sitting close to another person with her body heat seeping into his automail, he couldn't deny the dropping temperature and eventually started shivering himself.

"It's getting colder, we should probably go in." He said softly and started to rise.

"Alright, give me a hand up." She held out her hand and he took it, helping her easily. She stumbled slightly and leaned into him. Ed's eyes went wide and noticed with striking detail all the little things about her. The bright blue flecks in the irises of her eyes, the soft black feathers of her eyelashes and the sweet smell of her skin. _Oh man all I want to do is kiss her._

When he had first gotten to this place he hadn't even thought that there might have been someone that he would have been attracted to, and truthfully he didn't really want a relationship with someone that was from another world. It simply wouldn't work, kinda like that fish and bird thing. He tried to remind himself that he was leaving so it wouldn't do to start anything here. _Even if she is a confident, beautiful smart person that doesn't take any crap from me_.

Unfortunately those small issues made the whole situation worse. She wasn't anything like the previous girls he had dated, those ones seemingly only interested on the next school test or the latest fashion or gossip, and they usually only wanted to date him because of his bad boy attitude rather than for who he was. With Rukia he was worried that _like_ could form into something deeper and really that was a dangerous thing to get into when trying to get home and…

_Oh fuck it._

He also decided that over thinking was overrated, leaned down and kissed her. It was quick, just a soft brushing of lips. He noticed that she tasted crisp, like freshly fallen snow and her lips felt velvety soft. When he pulled away her eyes were wide and surprised. He gulped and started feeling a little more than awkward, his cheeks warming uncomfortably.

"I ah… sorry I didn't mean to uh-" He stuttered and mentally cursed himself. _See? NO TACT! _His brain reminded him a little belatedly.

"Don't apologize." She said quietly and lightly touched his cheek, then pulled him down for another soft kiss. This time he took his time in getting to know the fit of her lips. They were still soft, still sweet, and he tipped his head a little and brushed his tongue against the seam of her mouth in a tentative question. She parted her lips and the tips of their tongues touched lightly for the first time, gliding against each other in a way that sent a warm shiver through Ed. If he had thought the taste of her was sweet before it was nothing in comparison to this. His flesh hand came up to cup the back of her head, pulling her closer and enjoying the feel of her soft hair against his palm.

Unfortunately that move also knocked the jacket from his shoulders and a frigid autumn breeze made both of them shiver where they stood. Ed pulled away slightly and gave her a small soft smile.

"Maybe we should go in now?" She asked tentatively.

"Probably, if we don't we'll probably freeze both our asses off." He gave her a roguish grin and stepped back from her embrace, then picked up the jacket in one fluid move. He mentally congratulated himself on the graceful move he made before stumbling on the slippery roof slats and falling off the roof with a loud and undignified curse.

He landed in a bush with his legs in the air and hair pulling at the horrible branches but that was nothing compared to the flaming cheeks he knew he had. _So much for being romantic. Fuck_. Above him he could hear Rukia's laughter ringing loudly into the night.

* * *

~Symphonyofsilence

Bakudou number sixty three – Sajo Sabaku: Way of binding - Locking bondage stripes

Hadou number eleven – Tsuzuri Raiden: Way of Destruction - Bound lightning

Also I'm not really sure about late autumn constellations in Japan but since I really like Orion I used him.

If you want to see the circles Ed and Al used you can put these links into your browser, just make sure you remove all the spaces and imagine the eye in the center of the second circle. If you haven't seen Conqueror of Shambala and don't want a spoiler then no-clickie on the second one please.

I didn't draw these, I actually found them of deviantart so props for the art should go to the respective (and awesome) artists themselves.

First Circle: : http :// dakitty. deviantart. com/art/Human-Transmutation-circle-34637855

Second Circle: http :// mazena. deviantart. com/art/Transmutation-Circle-29390220


	8. Oh Captain, My Captain

Hello everyone and welcome to Chapter 8. Sorry it took so long to get this one up, I had to make sure all the knots were tied properly.

This one might feel a little fragmented, although I did try my best to make sure it didn't. It was the best way I could add all the bits in that were needed.

Now that I'm done with that, on to the story...

* * *

Envy trudged the streets of Karakura trying to close in on the scream he felt reverberating through his skull earlier this afternoon. He thought his luck was going rather well until he heard that.

That same night he found the park with the Elric punks' energy in it he had felt another surge of power, another feeling of changing matter, and not just one but multiple pinpoints from across town. He had smiled to himself and strode towards the feeling, wanting to catch up with the boys and get his hands around their scrawny necks but the longer he walked the more he noticed the pinpoints of alchemy didn't grow stronger, and in fact started to dwindle over time. He eventually started running in order to get to his target before it was lost but no matter how he hastened his body to his target, the energy seemed to evaporate too quickly for him to keep up with.

Soon he had gotten lost in some residential maze-like area, each street looking exactly like the last with the same cookie cutter houses, multi level apartment buildings and potholed alleyways. but after a day or two he finally stumbled upon it.

He had found another area where alchemy had been used. The buzz was so minute that if he hadn't walked directly over the spot he probably wouldn't even have known it was there. The small alley was nondescript, flanked on both sides by the same random residential houses, criss-crossing power lines and neatly placed garbage bins he had been walking past for the last few days. He tried to make out some kind of pattern with these two locations but couldn't really make anything of it just yet. It didn't worry him overly, another one or two times of them using their alchemy and he would be able to hone in on them much more clearly.

He had stayed in the area and walked around a radius of three or four blocks, seeing if he could find another location where alchemy was used. Thankfully that had also brought him to a small two story building with a sign that said _Kurosaki Family Clinic_ in neat letters over a small two story home. The building itself, just under one of the second story windows held the same buzz but it held a slightly different feeling, which could only mean one thing: both of them had been in this location, and recently too. When he had come across the clinic there was a person outside and he congratulated himself on finding one of the Elric brats, but upon looking closer he found that he wasn't the target he was looking for, just some dark haired man with a scruffy chin that had given him an uncomfortable piercing look, almost to say he knew what Envy was. He disliked the man immediately but he decided that at the moment discretion was better for his plan, then gave the man no attention, and nonchalantly turned the corner.

He had stayed watching for some time in the bushes across the street after the old guy went inside, deciding to camp out in order to get his hands on one of the boys as his patience was starting to wear thin. But after a few hours he heard it.

It was like a screaming sound inside his head, telling him in no uncertain terms that the gate he had travelled through in getting here had been opened. He swore loudly and sprinted in the direction of the sound but for some reason he couldn't pinpoint the location like before. It was as if the sound was more of an echo, ringing off unseen walls and confusing his senses as to the exact place.

It was well into night now, and he was no closer to finding the origin of the scream than he had been when he first heard it. He had a feeling he was in the correct part of town but damn it that wasn't good enough. Envy started to worry that his plan may be falling apart around his ears. There could only be two reasons that gate would open, human transmutation or those little shits leaving him here to go back to Amestris. Since the Elrics had a bit more intelligence than the average alchemist he knew they could do human transmutation, hell they had done it for Sloth so who's to say they wouldn't do it again? The problem was the latter possibility and Envy growled to himself in the darkness, hoping he might find a clue somewhere in the vicinity that may lead him to where the gate would have been.

"Fuck." He murmured under his breath. They were supposed to be his compass to Hoenheim! If they had left he would have to search for that bastard father of his without any help and who knows how long that would take. He had been here for a little over a week and still had not found hide or hair of that man.

"If you boys left…" He whispered dangerously into the darkness, eyes narrowing in hatred, "I'm going to make sure you regret it."

He wasn't sure quite yet _how_ he would make them regret it though, homunculi couldn't do alchemy, which meant he would have to find another alchemist here with the smarts to open it for him, that or tell the idiot how to do it. Unfortunately this train of thought led him to another building issue: He still hadn't found another alchemist here. He could feel tension rippling across his shoulders; how could this place not have any alchemists? In a town this large there should at least be one or two.

He was shaken from his thoughts by a loud screech and trilling laughter. He looked from the roadway he was walking along, and with a few more paces an inconspicuous candy shop with a small girl in black clothing laughing on the roof came into view. He glared at the girl for interrupting his thoughts but kept his pace and walked on. There was nothing for it really. All he could do for now is wait and see if the Elric boys actually had left or not. This time he had more places to watch over which definitely helped in trying to find them.

_Just a little more patience_ he reminded himself, _just a little more patience and luck and everything should work out_.

* * *

Hitsugaya Toshiro sat at his desk, his teal blue eyes trying to bore a hole through the innocent piece of paper held lightly between thumb and index finger.

"Matsumoto why is there a note in the petty cash box saying 'I.O.U. for three bottles of sake'?" He knew he was going to regret asking but posed the issue anyways. His fuku-taichou lifted her head from pretending to do paperwork, gazing at him with her ice blue eyes full of honest innocence.

"I thought it would be obvious Taichou, it was for division morale."

Hitsugaya scowled, eye twitching. "You used three bottles of sake for our division morale?"

"Oh not our division, I know how you feel about that." She nodded gravely towards him.

"Then who in the hell would you give it to?" He asked, brow furrowing in confusion. Didn't she have her own little stockpile hidden somewhere in this office? And if she did why the hell would she need to use division funds to buy booze?

Matsumoto gave him a bright smile and flipped her honey hair over her shoulder.

"Simple, third and ninth divisions are still without Taichous, so in order to bring up their spirits - I brought some."

"You used the money to go out drinking with Kira and Hisagi." It was a statement, not a question and Hitsugaya raised one eyebrow at his subordinate.

"Not just Kira and Hisagi, Ikkaku and Yumichika were there too." She said defensively. "They tend to drink a little more than the usual shinigami." She said in an offhand manner before dipping her head back to the mess of forms laid haphazardly on her desk.

"So let me get this straight. They drank all your alcohol so you used _our_ funds so you all could get more drunk?" He asked, trying to hold back the long-suffering sigh he felt tickling his insides whenever he talked about alcohol induced activities with Matsumoto.

"You know sir when you put it like that it sounds horrible. Like I said, it was for division morale, and I thought you might like to know that it definitely helped both divisions, why they were smiling all night!"

"I bet they were." Hitsugaya took a steadying breath and counted backwards from ten to stave off the urge to strangle his fuku-taichou. Before he reached four a hell butterfly came flapping through the window that was letting in the late afternoon air and landed on his outstretched fingers, which still held the note in question.

_There is an emergency Taichou meeting at First Division Meeting Hall. Tenth Division Taichou presence requested immediately._ The message rang out. Hitsugaya watched as the hell butterfly lifted from his fingers and glided back out the window.

"I wonder what the issue is at this time of day." Matsumoto mused.

"I don't know but I'm going to find out. This conversation isn't over though." He gave her a dark look before pushing out from behind his desk and dropped the note onto the centre of his near spotless surface.

"Of course not sir, I expect a full reprieve come morning." She nodded, eyes wide and understanding.

"That's good, and I expect you to replace the money you used to go drinking with." He said as he swept his small frame towards the door. "Oh and Matsumoto?"

"Sir?" Matsumoto asked as he reached the threshold.

"If I come back from this meeting and find you intoxicated on the couch again there is a very strong possibility that I will feed your drunken ass to a hollow."

"Love you too sir!" Her happy voice rang out as he closed the tenth division office door.

It didn't take long for Hitsugaya to get to First division and was surprisingly one of the first to arrive. He watched as the other Captains threaded their way to their usual places of dual lines in the First Division Meeting Hall. Since Third and Ninth divisions were still without Captains, Yamomoto had decided that the two acting Captains start coming to the meetings. It was nice having those empty spots filled but unfortunately the most ominous of all, the division 5 spot, still remained vacant. Momo was still recovering and it was very slow going so it was hard to say when, or if that spot would be filled any time soon, either by her or anyone else.

Once all the people were in their designated locations Yamomoto thumped his staff against the dark floors to bring everyone to order.

"I have brought you all here for a very serious situation." Yamomoto's voice rang off the high ceilings, adding an echoing reverberation to his already authoritative voice. "We are having a very old issue resurface in the world of the living."

"What issue would that be?" Ukitake asked, his kind eyes turning towards the older man.

"A dangerous gateway that seems to have been reopened. Kurotsuchi Taichou will explain the details." Yamomoto stated, lifting old, intelligent eyes to the black and white faced Captain. Kurotsuchi nodded and stepped forward.

"A little over a week ago our monitoring systems for the world of the living picked up the opening of a very unstable gate." Kurotsuchi addressed the captains.

"Have we discovered the origin and destination of where this gate opened up?" Hitsugaya asked. Kurotsuchi gave him a cold look.

"I do not like being interrupted Hitsugaya Taichou." He snapped. Hitsugaya held back the urge to roll his eyes. The man was always so damn touchy.

"Heh, that means he's not sure." Kyoraku drawled quietly from under the wide brim of his hat.

"As I was saying, it opened into the world of the living. We were unable to find the origin path, but the destination was Karakura town." Kurotsuchi said in his pinched voice.

"Is it possible Aizen has something to do with this?" Hisagi asked, arching his brows in curiosity.

"It's hard to say at this time but it should not be ruled out." Yamomoto's voice boomed, bringing the attention back to the older man seated at the front.

"The secondary issue," Kurotsuchi said, "is the fact that it was opened from the world of the living to an unknown destination yesterday."

"Do we know if anyone has travelled through this gate?" Kuchiki Taichou asked in his calm noble voice.

"Once again, that information can be neither confirmed, nor denied at this time." Yamomoto said, giving his head a small frustrated shake.

_This is definitely interesting_ Hitsuagaya thought. As far as he knew the only gateway that Aizen had used was the Garganta tunnel, and that was still being studied in the research and development department so that they might find out how it could be used to their advantage. If Aizen had started using another entryway there was a possibility they could use that instead in order to storm Hueco Mundo, once a strong enough attack strategy was put in place that is.

"The first opening was only the briefest blip on our screens, barely anything and was unfortunately… _overlooked_." Kurotsuchi almost hissed the last word and his eyes narrowed upon something only he could see.

"That musta put a bunch in his panties." Zaraki Taichou said to no one in particular. Hitsugaya gave the briefest flash of a small smile. Sometimes standing next to the eleventh division had its advantages. Kurotsuchi gave Zaraki a dirty look but went on with his story.

"The second time was much stronger, and held for a longer period of time. After researching the phenomenon in our database I came upon some very interesting information-"

"Get to the point Mayuri." Soi Fon cut across him with a hard look.

"As I have stated before, I do not like being interrupted. And you should work on addressing me formally!" Kurotsuchi took a menacing step towards Soi Fon, gold eyes glittering.

"Kurotsuchi Taichou, please continue." Yamomoto said, bringing Kurotsuchi back to the matter at hand.

"Of course Sou-Taichou." Kurotsuchi said and gave Soi Fon one more flash of an angered eye before continuing. "This gate is the same that was locked down over four hundred years ago because of the reishi removal incident."

"That's the gate we're talking about?" Kyoraku lifted his hat, giving a surprised look to Yamomoto.

"Could someone please explain the reishi incident?" Hitsugaya asked, brow furrowing slightly. He disliked the fact that he had to ask as it tended to bring his age into light, which he didn't like to do, but in order to find out what the hell they were talking about he had no choice. Ukitake looked over and gave him a kind smile.

"There was a gate that attached to a separate world of the living, similar to the living world here. It was not often that shinigami had to travel there as hollows were not highly attracted to that location. However some still did work their way there, usually by a failed experiment."

"That's a nice way of putting it." Kyoraku gave a slow smile towards the thirteenth division Taichou. "Hollows showed up because people on their side didn't know what they were doing and called them forth. To make it more complicated they were usually in human form so they were harder to track down."

"Hollows in human form? You mean like Visoreds?" Kira asked, his blue eyes full of concern.

"No he means actual hollows but their reaitsu's were hard to trace because they were somehow transferred into a human body. There were certain traits that they had which made them easier to find though. Like I said, the world is similar, but not the same." Ukitake nodded towards the blonde. "Once the person that brought the hollow forth realized what they had done they were usually quite apologetic, some even helped in tracking it down in order to purify the hollow."

"This is all well and interesting but what does this have to do with reishi removal?" Kuchiki Taichou asked, arching a single dark brow at Ukitake.

"Well, from what I can remember there was some sort of experiment in order to help boost spiritual powers in humans in that world. It backfired horribly and the gate showed up above Rukongai, then started sucking huge amounts of reishi through into their world.

"By the time we received the notification there was already much lost. There was nothing for it but to lock the doors down completely so that it could never happen again." Ukitake finished with a rare frown. "But why would it be showing up now, and especially in the world of the living?"

"Good question, it seems as though someone has learned how to bypass the lock." Kyoraku gave a small shrug.

"That is our main problem at this time." Yamomoto said with a small thump of his staff, making Komomura's ears twitch at the noise. "We will need someone to go to the world of the living for observational purposes in order to find out the situation there. We need to find out if anyone has travelled through this gate and whether Aizen is behind it."

"And if we find out he is?" Komomura asked.

"We would need to find out what he is using it for immediately. As well we would need to find out if it could be used to our advantage in the coming war." Yamomoto replied. "Hitsugaya Taichou, because of your previous experience in the living world I would like you to assemble a team of three for departure to Karakura town tomorrow at 0700. Once you have made your observations regarding this gate report back to me immediately."

"Of course sir." Hitsugaya nodded towards Sou Taichou.

"Kyoraku Taichou and Ukitake Taichou: since you both have had experience with this gate in the past, please remain on standby for travel to the living world with two battle-ready teams if anything goes amiss. Unohana Taichou, if the battle teams are called to the living world you will need to start preparations for possible incoming wounded. If Aizen is in fact behind this I would like to stop him before any other issues arise."

"Of course sir." Ukitake nodded.

Unohana gave a quiet serene smile and nodded in silence.

"No problem Yama-jii." Kyoraku gave a slow nod to the older man, then tipped the brim of his hat back over his eyes.

"In regards to my reconnaissance mission sir, if there's another high level reishi removal like last time do I have permission to lock the gate down?"

"The reishi in the living world is at a much lower density than it is here so the damage would be much less extensive. If you find that the gate appears and starts a reishi removal please contact first division immediately. If it's at a high enough level we may need to lock them down but I would like to be advised beforehand."

"Yes sir." Hitsugaya nodded again towards Sou Taichou.

"Are there any more concerns regarding this issue?" Yamomoto asked, rolling his eyes between each person in the ranks.

"Yeah I got one old man, why is sicky and the drunk guy over there gettin' all the fun if Aizen shows up?" Zaraki asked, jabbing a thumb towards Ukitake and Kyoraku.

"If the battle becomes large enough eleventh division may be called upon, but at this time it is not needed." Yamomoto glared at the eleventh division Taichou. Zaraki grumbled a little to himself where the words 'old fart' and 'senile' were rather prominent but on the whole he held his tongue.

"Very well. Meeting adjourned." Sou Taichou called out and banged his staff on the meeting floor, making Kira jump a little and Komamura's ears twitch again. Hitsugaya waited until Sou-Taichou had stood from his seat, then turned to the rest of the group. Most of the Captains were now meandering slowly towards the doors and talking in small groups together.

"Kira, Hisagi, a word please." Hitsugaya called out, bringing the attention of both acting Taichous towards him.

"Yes?" Kira asked, brows raised in question. Hisagi came up alongside the blonde, dark eyes serious.

"I would like to bring one of you with me to Karakura." Hitsugaya said, giving each a level look.

"Why us?" Kira asked in confusion.

"Both of you are good with Kidou and you both have been to the living world before so there would be no surprises as to how to dress and act." He replied. Hisagi was nodding his head in understanding but Kira looked somewhat apologetic.

"I would be honored Hitsugaya Taichou but the paperwork for squad 3 is simply too backed up at the moment." Kira said apologetically. Hitsugaya nodded in sympathy. Since the betrayal all three divisions had become extremely understaffed and he knew Kira's division in particular was suffering.

"I understand Kira. Hisagi, what about you?" He asked, looking to the tattooed man.

"I can handle the mission as long as it's not for more than a week. Any longer and I'll be in the same boat as Kira." Hisagi replied.

"Alright, then you're coming. It shouldn't take longer than a few days." Hitsugaya said with a nod. "Meet Matsumoto and I at Tenth Division at 0630 hours tomorrow and make sure you bring adequate clothing. Last time we had to use Urahara's clothing stockpile and it didn't go over well." There was no way he would be dressing like he was some American vintage folk art singer like Urahara had done with Abarai. He shuddered at the thought.

"Don't worry sir, Renji gave me some clothes from when he was there last. I should be fine." Hisagi gave an amused smile.

"Good. I'll see you tomorrow then. Now if you will both excuse me, I need to go break the news to my probably already drunk fuku-taichou." He said with a sigh and started walking towards the doorway.

Kira gave a nervous laugh and wished them luck as they reached the 1st division door, then headed in the direction of 3rd division.

* * *

"Why does it have to be raining?" Matsumoto whined as they walked towards the shoten on their way to pick up their gigais. "If I had known I would have brought an umbrella."

"We're almost there, quit complaining." Hitsugaya replied, hoping but not expecting for silence on the walk. Usually when they used the senkaimon it dropped them off right at the doorway of the Urahara shoten but this time – probably because he annoyed Kurotsuchi at the meeting, he thought in annoyance – they were dropped off quite some distance away from the shop. They had been walking in the rain for a good ten minutes now and his clothes were well on their way to being soaked through.

"You know what we need sir?" Matsumoto asked, a thoughtful look on her damp face. "A weather monitor for the world of the living, that way we can dress appropriately."

"You should talk to Kurotsuchi Taichou about that then." Hisagi put in with a wry smile. Matsumoto looked apprehensive for a moment before a bright smile took over and she looked to Hitsugaya.

"Taichou do you think you could talk to him? You're so good at that stuff!" Matsumoto asked hopefully.

"I'm not talking to Kurotsuchi just so you can bring another suitcase of clothing. Why do you even have that much stuff with you anyways? We're only going to be here for a few days." He looked to the huge item in question trolling behind his lieutenant. It was so large he could probably fit easily within it and still have room to spare.

"A girl never knows what she might need. Besides it's only half full." She added with a sniff and wiped a bead of moisture from her cheek.

"Why would you bring a half full suitcase?" Hisagi asked with a quizzical look, the spikes of his hair starting to droop.

"Shopping of course! It's one of my favorite pastimes in the world of the living."

"I told you before we left; you're not here to shop. We're here strictly on reconnaissance, and on Yamomoto's orders." Hitsugaya gave her a level look and turned into the shoten yard.

"But you said that last time." She mourned, a small frown turning the corners of her mouth down.

"Yes I did, and you went anyways if I so remember."

"It was on my off time so it was completely ok." Matsumoto gave a quick nod and a flash of a smile to Hitsugaya.

"I don't remember giving you time off at 3pm on a Wednesday." He retorted.

"Oh Captain you have such a good memory! Doesn't he Hisagi?" Matsumoto rang out happily, then grabbed Hitsugaya, pulling him into a hug and pressing his face into her chest.

"Let me go! Damn it Matsumoto I need air to breathe and smashing my face into your heaving bosom restricts that ability greatly." He growled, pulling his body away from his Lieutenant.

"Sir!" She cried in surprise, her bright eyes wide with shock and a blush staining her cheeks.

By this time they were almost at the door to the shoten, and a familiar hat-clad blonde was in the entryway with an amused smile, probably from overhearing their conversation.

"Ah good morning Hitsugaya Taichou, Matsumoto and Hisagi. I have your gigai's ready. Would you like to come in?" He asked kindly, waiving a fan towards the darkened interior.

Hitsugaya nodded at the man and stepped out of the rain and into the dry warmth of the candy shop. He never understood how the man was always able to know they were coming and in some ways didn't really want to know. Honestly it unnerved him sometimes just thinking about it.

"How does he always do that?" Matsumoto murmured quietly to Hisagi, only a few steps behind the Captain. Hisagi looked confused.

"Do what?" He asked just as quietly as they stepped over the threshold.

"He always knows we're coming no matter what." She replied, echoing Hitsugaya's thoughts. Hisagi watched Urahara walk down the hall and rifle through a small linen closet. Once Hisagi decided that Urahara was out of earshot he shrugged towards the tenth division fuku-taichou.

"My guess would be spies all over Seireitei that work only for Urahara." He whispered with a smile.

"That's a little over the top… Or at least the 'all over' part." Hitsugaya replied, making both shinigami snap their eyes towards him.

"You'd think so but it makes sense, I mean no one can know as much as he does without having _someone_ spying for him." Matsumoto said nodding conspiratorially towards Hisagi.

"So who do you think is spying for him?" Hisagi asked with a quirk of his brow. Hitsugaya folded his arms across his chest and looked at his fuku-taichou. This was something he wouldn't mind hearing as well.

"Oh I don't need spies, I'm simply that intelligent. I did work for twelfth division you know. Now before I get your gigai's would you like to dry off and maybe have a cup of tea?" Urahara had returned from the closet with three towels in hand and passed one to each dripping shinigami.

Hitsugaya took the offered towel but shook his head a little. "Just the towels will suffice for now, thanks. There's no need for the-"

"Oh definitely Urahara! I'm soaked to the bone and freezing cold. I know that Taichou and Hisagi aren't much better either, some hot tea would be perfect!" Matsumoto cut him off, then walked right past him with a bright smile and a flip of wet hair that whipped water droplets onto his face.

"Matsumoto!" He barked, eye twitching and shoulders riding up around his ears.

"You know sir you should go easy on Urahara, why he's been nothing but pleasant since we've been here." She chided and gave another smile to the shopkeeper before he disappeared down the same hallway, possibly to return with tea.

"We've barely gotten through the door." Hisagi said, ruffling the towel against his dark hair.

"And he's already offered us warm towels, hot tea and assistance in finding out about this gate." Matsumoto replied, ringing her hair with the fluffy towel she was given.

"No he hasn't." Histugaya said and dried himself off as best he could before taking a seat at the table.

"Well he knows we need gigais so he probably knows something about it." Hisagi mused as he came to sit alongside the young Taichou.

"hmm. Good point Hisagi." He replied after a short pause. He had to admit it was true, the man was definitely nothing short of polite whenever he had to make a trip to the world of the living.

"Here we are, a pot of tea and four cups. Would you care to sit?" Urahara had returned, taking a seat at the table and offering a seat to Matsumoto who was still drying her long hair.

"Thank you Urahara." She smiled and took a seat between Hitsugaya and The shopkeeper.

"You're welcome." Urahara gave a bright smile, pouring the steaming liquid into each cup before handing it off to each person with a nod. Once the formalities were over with Hitsugaya turned to face Urahara.

"I'm not going to make any pretenses about our mission. Urahara do you know why we're here?" He asked. The shopkeeper gave one of his I-know-more-than-you-but-I'll-never-tell-you-how smiles.

"Ah Hitsugaya, always to the point. Are you three comfortable? The story might take a little bit."

Hitsugaya sighed and took up a more comfortable seat, he had a feeling this story was going to take longer than 'a little bit'.

* * *

~Symphonyofsilence

Reviews are equal to internet crack - please feed my addiction :)


	9. Of Pickle Jars and porches

Sorry about the long wait everyone. My bathroom needed to be redone and I got horribly sick. I'm back now though and bring you the next chappie. I hope you all enjoy!

* * *

Ed and Al sat on Urahara's workroom floor, dusty books, scribbled notebooks and what seemed to be random pieces of paper strewn about the entire floor and surrounding him and his brother. When Ed had found that Urahara's workroom held the most information, not only on the living world but also Soul Society he had bartered a deal with the ever-smiling shopkeeper. They would be allowed to use the workroom facilities as well as the books and notebooks (not all of them Ed noted sourly) and in return the brothers would help figure out what the hell this black arm thingie was made out of, and see if there was a way they could use that information in getting home. The deal though was keeping an open dialogue with Urahara on all their findings, which at the moment resulted in knowing that the arm was… well black, gross and twitchie.

"Brother look at this." Ed lifted his head from the notebook he was currently working on to look over Al's findings.

"Visoreds. Huh, who would have thought these shinigami guys could get hollow abilities as well." Ed mused.

"I think it's interesting." Al replied, not tearing his eyes away from the book.

"Were you able to find any other information on this though?" Ed asked, tapping the large pickle jar currently sitting on the workroom desk above them with his pencil. Ed would have been much happier if the jar had actually held pickles but unfortunately the two boys weren't quite so lucky. The black arm was coiled inside, and every so often the thing would still twitch or flail in the jar, making both brothers glance unnervingly at the item and distracting them both from the goal they were trying to achieve.

Al shook his head and looked uncertainly at the contents. "No. I wish it wasn't in here. It's just so…"

"Gross?" Ed finished for him while tapping the pencil end at the jar again. Sure enough the arm twitched, making Ed quickly recoil his hand.

"That's one way to put it." Al said with a distasteful frown. Ed shook his head and turned back to the notebook he was currently working on.

"Well keep reading, maybe there's something in there we could use to find out what this thing is."

"Let's hope we find it soon." Al gave the jar one more look before going back to find another book from the ones piled randomly around them.

It really was hard to concentrate with that thing in the room. The problem was that this was one of the safest places for the item, the second being the training facility but that didn't have anything near to hand to study, and bringing this amount of books down all those stairs was daunting to say the least. Besides that one issue there was also the fact that at some point in time they might have to experiment on it and Urahara said the kidou barriers in this room were the strongest in the whole place when it came to small scale experiments.

Ed gave a sigh, took one more look at the coiled black hand and went back to the notebook he was currently working on. After a few more minutes of study silence Ed gave a smile at the notebook, then snapped his head towards his brother.

"Hey look at this!" Ed exclaimed. Al looked over and gave Ed a frown.

"What are you doing with that book? Urahara said its one of the ones we weren't supposed to touch!" Al declared, giving his brother a reproachful eye.

"Save the lecture will ya?" Ed said with a scowl. "And besides if he didn't want us to look at it he should have made a better code, it only took a day and a half to break it." He slid his scribbled findings towards his brother. Al shook his head at Ed.

"If Urahara finds out that you've been looking at stuff we're not supposed to be looking at we could get in trouble… What does it say anyways?" He asked, picking up the notes.

"Take a look." Ed said with a smug smile. One thing Ed was certain of was when it came to knowledge Al was just as thirsty for it as he was. The two could sit in a room studying for days on anything they could get their hands on and this situation was proof of that. Al read over the contents, his smoky eyes perusing Ed's work while Ed turned back to the notebook to translate the code on the next page.

"Brother your handwriting is horrible." Al murmured with a furrowed brow. When he finished reading over the piece of paper his eyes snapped up to his. "Do you really think it could be that easy?" Al asked.

Ed shrugged. "There's only one way to find out." He replied. Both Elric brothers looked over at the ominous jar.

"I'm not touching that thing." Al said quickly.

"So how goes the hunt? And what did you do to my workroom!" Urahara said as he stepped through the door and took in the mess sprawled across the entire workroom floor with widened, worried eyes.

"Urahara! Uh… Fine!" Al exclaimed nervously, quickly sitting on the pinched notebook he had been reading from.

"I work better like this." Ed said with a shrug.

"Well let's hope you can also work to clean it up when you're done. Any new findings?" Urahara asked as he carefully tiptoed through the mess to stand between the two brothers.

"I think we finally might have a working theory about this thing." Ed said while jabbing a pencil towards the jar but not quite touching the glass.

"Well by all means what is it?"

"Reiatsu works in many different ways here," Al started. "It can be condensed to the point of visualization, as well as using it not only to heal, but to damage as well."

"The theory for this thing is that it's condensed reiatsu that's so strong it even sucks light into it, kinda like a black hole but not quite at the same time. What the origin of the reiatsu is we're not sure yet but that's my best guess so far." Ed offered. Urahara seemed to pause for a moment so he could take the information in. Eventually he nodded.

"That is a very interesting theory. Have you tested it yet?" Urahara asked with raised eyebrows.

"Ah… not yet." Al replied hesitantly.

"What's the problem?" Urahara looked between the two brothers.

Ed sighed and sat up to sit cross legged, placing both elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. "We'd have to touch it. That's the problem." Ed responded. Urahara looked at the jar, then back at the two boys on the floor.

"Well it's been amputated from the gate so it should be safe to touch." Urahara mused aloud in an effort to calm the two.

"Easy for you to say." Ed heard Al mutter under his breath.

"What was that?" Urahara looked over at Al whose face had gone pink.

"Honestly neither of us really want to touch this thing." Ed said in hopes of rescuing his brother from further embarrassment. "Urahara would you feel alright in helping with this experiment?" Ed offered in a hopeful voice.

"I don't mind at all, pass me the jar." Urahara gave a shrug and held his hand out. Ed stood up and passed the item gingerly to the shopkeeper and almost fumbled it to the floor when the hand twitched again, making a small tinking sound against the glass.

"Man that thing is so gross." Al pushed away from the item so that his back almost connected with the desk, a look of revulsion on his small features. Ed nodded in agreement. Out of all the things they had to deal with in their short lives this one had to be the slimiest and twitchiest of all of them.

"Where's that reiatsu detector? We might need it." Ed said, already looking on the shelves for the item in question. Although the item still didn't pick up on hidden reiatsu's it did a good job of picking up all the finer spikes in reiatsu levels, as well as what different types of reiatsu were doing at the same time. For a situation like this it was almost the perfect tool.

"Top left shelf, behind the box that says 'old encyclopedias'." Urahara said absently while looking over the contents of the jar.

"That's a good way for no one to touch it." Ed quirked a smile and reached for the encyclopedia box to push it to the side - which was deceptively light – and found the fisher price reiatsu detector. After a few quick directions from the shopkeeper on usage, Ed turned the little dial to the 'on' switch.

"Alright go for it." Ed nodded towards Urahara. The moment the words left his mouth Urahara unscrewed the cap of the jar and placed his hand gently inside. He grabbed onto the black coiled arm near what Ed could only consider as its wrist. When Urahara touched the item it was as if the arm had come alive again and was reaching its little black fingers to latch on to Urahara. Ed shuddered at the thought of letting that thing touch him again and tried to ignore the feeling, focusing instead on the information that came through on the little piece of machinery he held in his hand.

"Look at that." Al whispered in awe beside him when he also took a look at the information coming up.

"I know, it's almost as if it's leeching the reiatsu from Urahara." Ed replied, eyes glued to the information coming through. If it was actually seeping energy from Urahara that could only mean one thing: that it latched on to living things and just – sucked the life force from a person. The gate of truth was usually only supposed to open when people died so it would make sense that it's only job was to absorb energy.

"Hmm. I don't feel as if it's taking any energy from me." The shopkeeper stated as he looked at the hand, now grasping at his green shirt and looking like it was trying to get out of the jar.

"Well maybe it's not taking the energy per se, its acting maybe more like a radio station or-"

"Or a tuning fork. Urahara why do you have your hand in a pickle jar- Eulgh." Ed's head snapped up and a strange tingle shot down his spine at the voice, completely derailing any thought process he had on the current experiment. The voice was the exact duplicate of his own.

Ed saw a young man step into the workroom. He couldn't be older than fourteen but his hair was completely silver and spiked in seemingly random directions. His eyes were large and a piercing teal blue color that were intelligent and shrewd that made him somehow seem older. He was just a little shorter than Ed himself and the guy was wearing the same uniform as Renji and Ichigo wore, but overtop he there was a long white coat that almost grazed the floor. Ed also noticed that he carried a sword that was hitched across his back diagonally.

The young man seemed to be just as disturbed at the contents of the pickle jar as Ed himself was. He had never put a second thought to meeting anyone that could be a replica of someone else on his side but seeing this young man now he had an extremely wierd feeling that he and the young man standing alongside Urahara were somehow strangely connected.

"Who's this guy?" Ed asked carefully, trying to keep his voice void of all the strange emotions he felt inside. The moment he spoke the white haired young man's bright eyes looked over at Ed and widened slightly in shock. He took all of Ed in with curious eyes and when they met his own gold orbs there was something…. Almost familiar in those teal depths. _So I'm not the only one who felt it then._

"Oh of course, how forgetful of me. Ed, Al, I would like to introduce you to Hitsugaya Toshiro, Tiachou of Squad ten of the Gotei 13." Urahara offered as he detangled himself from the black hand inside the jar.

"Hitsugaya Taichou will be fine. So this is the specimen you found?" Hitsugaya asked and looked interestedly at Urahara, now screwing the cap back on the jar.

"I think 'found' would be a loose term for it but yeah." Ed replied.

"And you two were the ones who opened the gate?" Hitsugaya asked, once again nailing Ed with a sharp eye.

"The first time wasn't on purpose, it just kinda happened." Al shrugged beside him.

"We're just trying to figure out a way home." Ed added, rotating his metal arm while trying to work out the kinks. It must be raining outside he thought. It only hurt like this when it was damp outside.

"And we think this might give us a clue." Al held up the piece of paper Ed had cracked the code on. Urahara caught the paper in a steely glance, then looked to the floor where Al had been hiding the notebook, now completely out in the open since he was standing and no longer sitting on it. He could feel his face start to heat up.

"What are you doing with that notebook?" The older blonde asked sharply.

"It's the one that gave us the theory." Ed gave Urahara an apologetic look.

"It's also one of the books I requested for you not to touch. How did you break the code so quickly?"

"You're not the only one who's considered a genius Urahara." Ed gave the man a half smile which only thinned the shopkeepers lips more in annoyance.

"It's a good working theory. Keep me advised if you make any progress." Hitsugaya stated and gave Urahara a nod and crossed his arms across his chest.

"Yes we will…" Urahara said offhandedly. He looked over at Ed and his brother, both of their faces now pink from being caught in the act. "I might have to remove some of my other works from this room as well." The older blonde added and snuck a look at the small amount of notebooks high up on the shelf above the Elric boys' heads that were supposed to be off limits.

Hitsugaya shook his head a little. "If it's because of your personal workbooks they found this then you might want to consider having them look at all of them. Are they all done in the same code?"

Urahara looked taken aback by the question and seemed disinclined to comment further. Ed smiled a little at that, and he noticed Hitsugaya did the same.

"I'll take that as a yes." Hitsugaya said. He looked as if he was going to say more but a tall lanky man with three scars down his face and a 69 tattoo on his cheek knocked on the doorjamb of the open workroom door. Ed blinked a little at that. He wasn't so young or innocent to not know what that number stood for. _Damn, some of the people here are just plain weird._

"Hitsugaya Taichou I have the link set up and it's calling First division now." The dark spiky haired man said in a surprisingly smooth voice. Hitsugaya looked over his shoulder at the man in the doorway.

"Very good Hisagi. Do me a favor and call Matsumoto here."

"Ah… about that, I think she might have gone to visit someone by the name of Orihime?" Hisagi gave a small helpless shrug, giving Ed an idea at what kind of person Matsumoto was.

"In the rain?" Hitsugaya's voice was full of shock. Urahara looked over at the tiny window high up on the other side of the workroom that let in a small amount of afternoon sunlight and pointed with his hand.

"Actually it's let up since this morning." He said happily.

"Hmm. Well it's better than her going shopping." Hitsugaya said with a frown. He looked up at Hisagi still standing in the doorway. "Thanks Hisagi. Gentlemen." He nodded at the three still in the room and gave Ed one more strange look, then left with Hisagi.

"Brother, the white haired guy kinda reminds me of you." Al murmured quietly.

"It's eerie… It's like…. I dunno." Ed furrowed his brow in thought for a moment.

"Do you think it's possible that there are mirrored people on the other side of the gate?" Al asked, echoing Ed's thoughts in a creepy way.

"I don't know. It's something to think about anyways." He gave his brother a small smile, then caught the look Urahara was giving him. "What?" Ed asked.

"You and Hitsugaya. Your voices are the same." The shopkeeper said with a speculative look.

"Well that's something I'll have to think about after this experiment is done. Urahara did you want to get the other notebooks down? We can do a more thorough job on this investigation with them." Ed tried to hold back his smirk. The look was short lived though as Urahara gave one of his bright smiles.

"You should know that since I'm no longer part of the Gotei 13 I don't need to follow orders." He reached up anyways though and pulled down all the notebooks they were previously told not to touch.

"Thanks Urahara." Al said when two of the notebooks were passed to him.

"What about the rest of them?" Ed asked. Urahara gave another one of his smiles.

"These are for me. As I said, I don't follow orders." Then he turned on his heel, and left the workroom.

"Well there goes that idea." Al muttered, then pulled open one of the notebooks he was given. "Can you pass me the code crack? I wanna take a look at this one." Ed nodded absently and picked up the paper.

* * *

Ed and Al had been working almost until evening on the project and Ed had pretty much lost himself in the information surrounding him when he heard a light knock on the workroom door. He lifted his head to find Rukia standing in the doorway.

"R-Rukia! What are you doing here?" He asked. Al lifted his head as well and gave a curious look at the two of them. Ed still hadn't told his brother about what happened two days ago on the roof of the shoten, mostly because he was too embarrassed to talk about the situation. Even just thinking about it colored his cheeks.

After he had fallen off the roof Rukia had to help detangle him from the brambles he had landed in. If that wasn't enough for his bruised pride she had teased him about his balance before kissing him soundly on the cheek and leaving him at the door of the shoten. He had such a horrible sleep that night that he had decided on not thinking about the whole issue at all.

Until now that is.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute." Rukia asked, her bright eyes wide and curious. Ed nodded and got up from his seat on the floor slowly; cursing the earlier rain for making the portals of his automail ache.

"Yeah I guess I can do that." He said resignedly, already dreading the oncoming conversation. "Al why don't you take a break as well, we've been working non-stop since this morning." Ed looked over at his brother.

"That's a good idea. I bet Tessai's already working on dinner. I could probably help." Al got up from his seat on the floor. Ed quickly scooped up the notebooks with the code he was still perusing and handed them to his brother.

"Do me a favor and put those in our room? I don't want Urahara to take them away. Some of that stuff is really interesting."

"One of these days your curiosity is gonna get us in trouble brother." Al chided but took the books anyways.

"You took some of Urahara's workbooks?" Rukia asked. Ed turned towards her and gave a helpless shrug.

"They helped so it's something. He was less than impressed but it was worth it." Ed gave a cheeky grin and stepped through the doorway, Al following close behind. "Where did you want to talk?" Ed asked.

"Out on the porch probably. No one's out there right now." Rukia gave him another one of her smiles that made Ed's stomach feel weird, and without waiting for a reply started walking for the door. Ed followed close behind.

Once they were there Rukia took up a spot near the far corner away from the door. Ed sat beside her and looked out at the cloudy evening. It had stopped raining but the clouds had stayed, low and still threatening to open up and drench the world again, keeping the pavement wet and dark grey, as well as the rest of the surrounding world.

Ed looked at Rukia out from the corner of his eye. He was starting to worry about the reason she asked him out here. There could only be two reasons he thought: Either it was about them and what Ed had done on the roof, or it was about Envy. Since there was no look of stress on her face and no silver cell phone in her hand he decided to go with the former, instead of the latter.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" He asked. Rukia turned, giving him a level look.

"I've thought about this for a little while now. You and me."

"You and me." Ed nodded in understanding.

"You see Ed, I like things to make sense. So I decided to create a pro-con list about you and I." Rukia gave him a look, then turned and looked out to the yard again. Ed swallowed. "Did you want to hear them?" She asked.

"Ok." Ed said uncertainly.

"I would like to start with con, get them out of the way you know?" Rukia said and held up her right hand, index finger up.

"Con: We're getting ready for a war here against Aizen, and you're involved with trying to destroy Envy. That means both of us have a priority that doesn't include relationships." Rukia said in that matter of fact voice of hers. Ed had heard of this Aizen guy once or twice before, and from the notebooks Urahara had he was able to deduce that he was definitely a bad guy. Since he was involved with the whole Envy thing it definitely created some gulfs in regards to what each needed to work on, which meant they probably wouldn't see each other much. He could understand that one and nodded to her, impressed that she would use that as a first con.

"Pro: You weren't scared of kissing me and most people are since I'm part of nobility now, not to mention my brother would probably kill anyone that took 'untoward steps' with me." She said, holding up her left hand, index finger up.

"Wait, your nobility?" Ed asked, genuinely concerned. He had never tried to get into a relationship with anyone in this position before. Mostly because he was no fool and knew how the system worked… At least at home that is. Getting involved with nobility ran the risk of being the boytoy while the girl's very well bodyguarded fiancée got back from travelling the world or something, then being cast aside once the marriage took place. This most definitely changed things. Especially the killing brother part.

"I thought you knew that." Rukia quirked a brow at him.

Ed shook his head. "No I think someone forgot to mention that part to me." Ok Ed thought, that's one for one.

"Oh. Well it's true. Now let's go to con: You could leave at any time which creates immediate relationship instability." Rukia turned and looked out to the grey yard again, violet eyes intelligently looking over everything. Ed nodded at that one as well. It was true; once they found and destroyed Envy they were free to go home - once they figured out how to get through the gate that is. He wasn't going to lie; he really did want to go home. _She's definitely perceptive when it comes to this stuff_ he thought.

"I agree with that one. It's an unfortunate reality in our situation." Ed sighed.

"I thought so as well, which is why I added it to the con list." Rukia said as she waggled her left finger slightly and then folded both hands away.

"Pro: You're a very good kisser."

"Ah… thanks." Ed blushed and turned away, hoping his bangs would hide his pink face. Ed had never actually heard a girl spout off pro/con lists in front of him like this and it was starting to feel a little weird. Weren't girls supposed to talk about this stuff with other girls? Usually in bathrooms when they brought their seventeen friends with them?

"Con:" Rukia said, pulling Ed out of his thoughts. "If Renji finds out he's probably going to try and kill you as well."

"Great." Ed deadpanned.

"Which leads me to pro: I think you scare him with your alchemy, so that's definitely on the pro side." Rukia gave him a smile but Ed wasn't really feeling like he should be doing a victory dance at that.

"This list keeps getting better and better." He mourned.

"Con," Rukia said after giving Ed and amused look, which faded at the next point. "We're from different worlds, and the world we're currently in doesn't even belong to either of us. In order for us to stay together means we would both need to stay here. It works for me since I'm posted here for now but you're likely wanting to go home eventually."

Ed nodded at her list. She was definitely smart and did quite a good job of figuring things out. Not only when it came to matters that concerned herself but also for him. Ed sighed.

"By my count that's one extra con and one less pro." He said quietly.

"I know." Rukia looked over at him with her bright eyes serious again. Ed held back the frown he could feel wanting to escape. He understood where this was going now. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out a break up even before it happened, which in all actuality, probably worked best for both of them. If they were to keep up this- -

Ed's brain flatlined as Rukia leaned in to kiss him, pressing a pair of soft, sweet lips on his. After a moment to reconfigure his brain he looked at her highly amused face.

"Wait… what was that for? I thought you had too many cons?" He asked, trying with great effort to get his thoughts in some semblance of working order again. Rukia gave him one of those smiles of hers and sidled up closer to him on the step they were sitting on.

"I did. But then I thought of this one. Pro: You're intelligent, kind, selfless when it comes to your brother and above all you make me laugh. It's no small thing." She said honestly. She slid her hand into his flesh one and gave it a light squeeze. "Let's just… agree that if you have to go someday or I have to go back to Soul Society we'll part on good terms. If we understand that there is a possibility of finality then at least we're properly prepared right?"

Ed could feel the smile widen on his face and squeezed her hand lightly back.

"Right." He agreed, then leaned in and kissed her again.

* * *

Matsumoto walked towards the shoten, then quickly hid behind a tree lining the edge of the yard, a huge smile plastered on her face.

"It's just so cute!" She whispered to herself as she watched Rukia and a blonde haired boy kissing on the steps. She frowned as a second thought came to her.

"And me without my camera!"

* * *

A/N: for those of you who don't know, Ed and Hitsugaya are voiced by the same Japanese actor: Romi Paku. There are a few other crossover voices as well but I decided to focus on those two…. For now at least*grins*

For the English dubbed watchers (and I know you're out there) it's Vic Mignogna doing Ed's voice, who surprisingly also does Ikkaku and part of Zabimaru before the zanpakutou arc (bet you didn't see THAT one coming).


	10. Another Crappy Morning

Hello everyone! This one is a bit shorter of a chappie but I felt that this piece just kinda... I dunno, fit I guess. I tried to keep Ed as IC as possible for this situation but if he's not Gomen. If you see any typos, spelling mistakes, etc. please let me know.

I hope you enjoy!

* * *

There were many things Renji enjoyed, such as a fine cup of sake after a long days work, a well timed comeback to one of Ikkaku's insults, and a comfortable bed large enough for two with big, soft pillows. Waking up in Urahara's spare room with improper heating and finding himself squished up against the wall on a floor palette while his bedmate took up the rest of the single futon – and having the covers yanked from him so he woke up freezing cold with the sun shining through his tiny window too brightly and too early was something that was less than desirable to say the least.

"Why do you always have to be such a blanket hog?" He murmured in his sleep-raspy voice and tried to grab the corner of the blanket that had been so recently stolen from him. The blankets were held fast and his bed-partner gripped them like they were going out of style, then burrowed further under the covers.

"'S cold." Was the sleepy reply. Renji snorted an almost laugh and tugged again on the blanket.

"No shit. That's why I'm freezing over here. Come on Ran, gimme at least _some_ of the covers back." Renji pleaded. Rangiku sighed and eventually gave up the blankets he was hoping for and shuffled into the warm cocoon she had made – in the center of the futon no less. Rangiku squeaked in alarm as Renji's icy feet came into contact with her but he held her fast and snuggled closer.

"Mmmm… Missed you." He murmured and inhaled deeply the scent of her hair and sighed in contentment. It had been too long Renji mused, since they had been able to find any time to themselves. What with him going on extended missions to the living world, the upcoming war looming over their heads and the new bouts of training in preparation for the war the two had not had a good night's sleep together in months.

"Missed you too Renji." Rangiku whispered and snuggled back into his larger frame. The two dozed off together for a time until Renji's alarm clock finally signaled that he had to get up and start his morning patrols.

"Hit the snooze button." Rangiku mumbled and reached an arm out from the covers to hit blindly at the floorboards in front of her. Renji – knowing where the alarm clock actually was – reached to the tiny bedside table behind the shabby pieces of wood that passed as a headboard and pressed the off button.

"If I hit the snooze button every time you said that I'd be late every day." Renji replied as he clambered over the still inert form of Rangiku and shivered when his feet hit the cold floor.

"That's not true." Came the mildly indignant reply from the bed.

"Yeah it is. That's why the alarm clock stays on my side of the bed remember?" Renji chuckled when the only reply he got was a muffled _hmph_. He was about to grab his yukata and head for the shower when a warm hand grabbed at his leg.

"You really should come back to bed Renji." Rangiku lifted her head from the pillow and gave him a look that made him wonder how short he could make his shower.

"I wish I could." He sighed in resignation. "I gotta get going here. If I'm late Urahara will think of something evil for me to do and that's gonna mean no more spare time for the two of us." His breath hitched when her hand started travelling slowly in a northward direction up his leg.

"I'll make it worth your while." She gave one of her more evil smiles – evil because it usually had Renji bending over backwards for her – and tugged him closer to the bed. He ran over all the things that he could cut his time short on but in the end he sighed and pulled away.

"That almost always works!" Rangiku sat up and crossed her arms over her ample chest in annoyance.

"You're right, it usually does." Renji gave her a smile and leaned down to place a peck on her forehead before he wrapped himself in his threadbare yukata.

"Remember when we couldn't keep our hands from each other?" Rangiku reminisced as she stepped out of the bed with a shiver and grabbed her own yukata and placed it over the cute pink nighty she was wearing.

"How could I not?" Renji said with a laugh. "I was surprised Zaraki-Taichou didn't kill me for all the times I was late."

"It's a good thing you were in eleventh at the time." Rangiku nodded and stretched. "I wonder if it will be like that for Rukia and her new boy." She said sleepily and yawned widely. Renji stopped dead in his tracks, his hand gripped at the doorknob so tightly his knuckles went white.

"Rukia's new… What?" Renji asked carefully. Rangiku turned quickly around with shocked eyes. If there was one person in this world or the next that Renji was protective over it was Rukia. And if that bastard Ichigo put the moves on her he was going to kill him, preferably out in the open where everyone could see.

"I uh… I mean when she -um- FINDS a boy." She squeaked, and then cringed. Renji narrowed his eyes.

"You're a horrible liar in the mornings." He let go of the doorknob and folded his arms across his chest. "Is it Ichigo? Its Ichigo isn't it. That rat bastard, I told him to stay the hell away from her! I shoulda known too. Fuck, she's even sleeping in the guy's closet, who knows what kind of crap he's already pulled. I'm gonna go over there right now and-"

He was about to yank the door open and go find that perverted little shinigami shithead when Rangiku's hand held the door shut.

"Let go." He growled.

"Will you relax for a minute? It's not Ichigo."

"Well who the hell is it?" Renji barked. "It can't be Ishida or Chad, and she's smart enough to know that Urahara's tainted goods - to say the least."

"Why couldn't it be Ishida or Chad?" Rangiku asked.

"They're together. Now tell me who!"

"Ishida and Chad? That's so cute. See I knew I should have brought my camera!" Rangiku trilled happily, completely dodging Renji's question.

"I see what you're trying to do here." Renji said while giving her a hard eye. Rangiku looked back with solemn innocence.

"What do you mean?" She said in that way too innocent voice of hers.

"Yer tryin' to change the subject and it's not gonna work. Who. The hell. Is it."

"You're no fun when you're angry." Rangiku huffed but didn't move from her spot and kept her hand on the door. "I saw her the other day with a blonde boy, he had a braid in his hair and they were on the porch steps of the shoten." She sighed and a dreamy look crept into her eyes. "You should have seen it Renji, they were so adorable together!"

By this time Renji was certain he was going to kill something, well more like some_one_, and he knew the name attached to the person, which was even better. What the hell was Ed thinking anyways? That kid was only here because of some accident and was probably going to leave soon. What made him think it was a good idea to pursue a girl on this side of his freaky ass gate when he was trying so hard to get home!

"Let go Rangiku." Renji said and pulled on the door for emphasis. Rangiku may look like an extremely feminine woman but there was a reason she was fukutaichou of the tenth. She was sneaky, conniving and stronger than she let on. The conniving he could get around – at least before she had her morning coffee – the strength aspect though was a little daunting, considering she still had her hand pressed firmly against the door. Renji was certain that if he were to break it, not only would Rangiku be pissed at him, Urahara would take his sweet time in fixing it which was definitely an issue considering Rangiku was here. If they wanted to partake in any extra-curricular activities they would most definitely need a door.

"I'm not letting go until you promise me something." She said in a surprisingly steely voice.

"No." Renji snapped. "I'm gonna kill him and I'm gonna like it!"

Rangiku rolled her eyes. "Men." She sighed and locked eyes with him again. "If you kill him Rukia will hate you. Just talk to him ok?"

Talk to him, right. He would talk to him – with his fists. It was his job to keep Rukia safe from the horrors of men. He knew how gross their minds could be, he was one of them for fuck sakes! It would be a hell of a lot easier if she was a lez, he thought for the umpteenth time, then he wouldn't even have to worry about some pervert hanging off her and thinking dirty thoughts about her. Besides there was no way he was going back to Seireitei to tell Taichou about some random guy making out with his adoptive sister. He had been on the wrong end of his bankai before, and he wanted to make sure that didn't happen ever again. Taichou was the one that took care of her when she was in Soul Society, it was a kind of unwritten rule between the two of them that when Rukia was in the living world Renji was to take care of her here.

Unfortunately Rangiku also had a point. There was one kid Renji beat the shit out of when he found out the guy liked Rukia before the two of them even came to Seireitei. The only problem was that Rukia somehow liked him back and he had been yelled at so much by Rukia that his ears hurt for days – not to mention his shins, which she had also kicked multiple times during her little freak out.

"Well?" Rangiku asked when Renji had taken too long for her liking to respond.

"Fine." Renji gave a tight nod.

"See I knew you could do it!" Rangiku clapped her hands together and clobbered Renji with a hug.

"Yeah, yeah. Yer welcome. I shoulda listened to you when you asked me to stay in bed." Renji let go of the doorknob and hugged her back.

"Why's that?" Rangiku asked.

"Because I woulda been late for a much better reason, and we both woulda been in a way better mood."

* * *

The rest of the morning had not been kind to Renji. When he had come into the kitchen fifteen minutes late Urahara had given him the once over, then looked over at the clock and gave one of his shit-eating grins that told Renji he was going to be stuck doing the crappiest chores for a good week because of this. Hitsugaya, Shuuhei and Rangiku (he still wasn't sure how the hell she had gotten ready before him) had already left to find out where the gate had originally opened up in the real world and the Elric boys had disappeared early to either train in the basement or work on that creepy arm thing.

He scarfed down his meager breakfast and left under the guise of starting his patrols right away, but decided to take a little detour. Mostly to find out where Ed was.

Luckily he wasn't far, and all Renji had to do in order to find him was reach out with his senses to find his reiatsu. It really did feel weird, like a buzz that crept under his skin and made him tingle in a not good way, which only aggravated him more. He knocked on Urahara's workroom door and walked in without waiting for permission. There's no way he would be taking orders from that little shrimp.

"What's up Renji?" Ed asked as he lifted his head from one of the piles of books that surrounded him. Renji put up the best smile he could muster, which probably didn't look very smile like if Al's reaction was anything to go by.

"I need to talk to Ed. Alone."

He noticed Ed and Al shared a look that seemed to have a whole conversation attached to it – which was a little strange because it only lasted a few seconds. Al scowled and Ed shrugged, then got up from the floor.

"Sure I guess. Where?" Ed said and Renji's smile grew.

"Outside works. Let's go" He didn't wait for a response, just turned on his heel and headed to the doors leading outside. He could hear the mismatched thumping of Ed's feet following him close behind. Knowing Ed couldn't see him, he let his smile slip to the thunderous expression he had wanted to wear since this whole crappy morning happened. When the two of them were outside he shut the shoten door and then rounded on Ed, slamming him into the wall beside the door.

"What the fuck do you think yer doin?" Renji all but snarled in the kids face.

"What the fuck do YOU think YOU'RE doing asshole?" Ed shouted back and smacked Renji's hand away from the shirt Renji had fisted tightly in his hand. He let go of the fabric and let his hands fall in tight fists to his sides.

"Rukia. What the hell're you thinkin' kissin' her like that!" Renji all but yelled in the kid's face. Ed changed immediately from a confused scowl to pale shock.

"How did you find out?" Ed asked, eyes wide and worried.

"I might not be as sneaky as Urahara but I have my ways." Renji stayed looming over the kid, which was usually a good scare tactic since he was so big but Ed was quickly recovering from his shock and started looking him over with those shiny gold eyes of his. "You said it yerself, you're leaving once you get that gate of yours workin' so stay away from Rukia. She's been through enough shit these past few years, she don't need you clouding up her brain."

"Clouding up her-"

"You heard me ya little shitstain." Renji cut him off and folded his arms across his chest. "I don't trust you. Especially if you've been kissing Rukia."

"How about YOU listen to ME for a second Renji." Ed growled. His eyes usually were a bright gold but were starting to darken into a molten amber color with the beginnings of anger. "I don't know who the fuck you think you are coming here and thinking I'm going to hurt Rukia, and you're an idiot if you think I would." Ed shot back.

"Well yer leaving eventually right?" Renji asked. Ed's face faltered for a minute before he glared back at him.

"So are you. You don't belong here anymore than I do remember?"

"Yeah but you forget, me 'n Rukia are from the same place. Even grew up together and I can tell ya this – I'll be around long after yer gone too, probably picking up the pieces after you go back to wherever the fuck it is you came from."

"You think this was my idea?" Ed cried. "You do, don't you! I bet you haven't even talked to Rukia about this before clobbering me like some kind of asshole caveman."

"I don't need to talk to Rukia about – wait, what?" Now it was Renji's turn to falter. What the hell did he mean by it wasn't his idea? Ed must have caught the look because the kid smirked at him.

"You should get your facts straight before blowing your top at me." Ed grumbled, then shrugged uncomfortably and slid his eyes away from the redhead to land in some random place on the wooden porch floor. "I like her, and yeah I kissed her a coupla nights back." Renji cracked his knuckles right at chest level, which usefully enough, was right at Ed's eye level as well. Ed caught the move and glared at him. "But she was the one that brought up that whole pro-con list, and once she was done _she_ was the one that kissed _me_."

"Pro-con list?" Renji asked confusedly. Ed quirked the corner of his mouth.

"Yeah, you shoulda heard this thing, it was all about the reasons why it was a bad idea, and all the reasons it was a good idea. I thought she was going to break things off, which would probably be a whole hell of a lot easier – but then she kissed me." Renji could see Ed's face go pink.

Fuckin' Rukia! He shoulda known she would pull some crap like this! It messed up everything now. Here he was, ready to scare the shit out of this kid and get him to stay away from Rukia and it was all Rukia's idea? How the hell was he going to tell Taichou about this Ed situation without getting his ass kicked back into the living world or turned into sakura blossom goo? He groaned a little and resisted the urge to slap his hand to his face.

"You should also know that if I were to hurt Rukia – Which I don't intend to – she's pretty damn strong and knows how to use a sword, probably better than me. I'd be pulverized before you even got to me." Ed murmured, his face was even pinker by this time.

"Well you got a point there." Renji grumbled in agreement. "In fact she'd probably open you up like a tin can!" Renji chuckled and Ed scowled at him.

"Don't match me up with a tin can!" Ed yelled and bunched his hands into fists.

"Why? 'cause they're small?"

"Fuck off!" Ed shouted and Renji let out the first real laugh of the day.

"Well at least you have an idea what yer in for." Renji mused aloud.

"I wish I could agree with you on that one."

"Eh? What do you mean?" Renji asked. Ed just shook his head and gave him a rueful smile.

"I've never dated a girl that could kick my ass. It's kind of… Intimidating ya know?" Renji watched in amusement as Ed's shoulders hiked up his neck in tension.

"Yeah well… It might be intimidating, but at least you'll know if you step out of line." He replied gruffly.

"My main concern is how she'll let me know. I only have two real limbs left; I kinda want to keep them intact." Ed shook his head and sighed.

"Well they usually tell you first. It only comes to swords if you accidentally spill something on their shoe collection." Renji said and cringed inwardly at the memory. One thing's for certain, he'd never do _that_ again.

"It actually _has_ come to swords before?" Ed's eyes went wide again and he swallowed as he went pale. "Fuck I really have gotten in over my head." He said and rubbed the back of his neck with his flesh hand. Renji barked a laugh and clapped Ed on the shoulder, making the kid stiffen and stumble at the same time.

"Yer alright kid." Renji placed his arm over Ed's shoulder and led him back inside."This doesn't mean that I like you, but I think you might be at least ok – Ok enough for Rukia I guess." He added grudgingly.

"Thanks so much for your permission." Ed said sarcastically.

"Hey, look at it this way: me 'n Rukia, we never had anyone other than each other for a good chunk of our lives. I want her to be treated right. If you can do that, then we got no problem." By this time they were back at the workroom door. Ed took a long look at Renji.

"I can do that." Ed replied, then stuck out his hand. Renji took it and ruffled the kid's hair.

"Hey! Knock it off Renji!" Ed snapped, then pulled away and opened the door.

"Have fun with that gate souvenir thing. I gotta get to patrols." Renji sighed and left off, giving one last wave to Al, who looked over at him curiously.

He was still in a bad mood but the majority of it had left off with the confrontation. All he could hope for now is finding a few good hollows to smash up and the day would go much better.

* * *

~Symphonyofsilence

Reviews mean love!


	11. The Heart of The Matter

Here is the next installment people, I hope you like. The next chapter should be up within the next few days since I had to originally split this chapter into two...

Hope you all enjoy!

* * *

It had been a long three days Ed thought with a scowl. The patrols he and Ichigo went on had only turned up a few 'low level hollows' as Ichigo put it. It really didn't matter what he called them, they were still disturbing and creepy looking. All of them had masks, their bodies were disproportionate, and each had holes right through the centre of them, just like Envy had the day they had arrived. Ed was able to help catch them once he knew what to look for, and he even was able to take part in destroying one. The creature had tried to get away from Ichigo so Ed had erected a wall to keep it from going anywhere. Ichigo of course, was the one to kill it. He had jumped up while the creature was trying to scrabble over the wall and slashed it in half with his gigantic sword – zanpakuto – Ed reminded himself. But with all these patrols there was still no sight of Envy. It was like he was made for hiding, which he sort of was, what with his ability of changing form he could be anywhere and Ed wouldn't know the difference.

Then there was the little 'conversation' with Renji. Admittedly the two had come to a grudging type of friendship in the end... Sort of. Renji had become annoyingly present whenever Rukia was around though, and when he wasn't visible he was still there, watching over the two of them like an overprotective mother. Rukia had finally snapped the other day and aimed a low level kidou blast at the door he was hiding behind, which made Ed laugh and Renji grumble before limping away. Al eventually found out about the Rukia situation and he had gotten a clap on the back and a smile, then a stern talking-to from his younger brother about keeping his priorities in line. He didn't tell him right out that it was a bad idea like others had, which Ed appreciated; instead he brought up another issue that had made his breath catch. He wanted to know if Ed wanted to stay here instead of go home. Ed knew that no matter where he would be Al would follow, and thinking of Al separated from the life he so deserved simply wasn't an option.

Besides, a very big part of Ed wanted to go home as well. He told his brother so – vehemently in fact – and the two brothers had doubled their efforts in trying to figure out how to do so with incomplete workbooks that only contained information on this side of the gate, which meant no books on Alchemy at all. It had been hard to say the least. What Ed really wanted was to get his fingers on the Library books in Central, he might have been able to get a little more information then, considering the gate opened with Alchemy, and in this world no one knew Alchemy at all. Well there was Uryuu but that was because Al had taken to the archer and had been teaching him things in the time they had been here.

Ed's scowl darkened and he pushed the notebook away from him so that it slid across the workroom floor and bumped into Al's leg. Al looked up from furiously scanning the book in front of him and sighed theatrically.

"You don't have to take it out on the book brother." Al chided gently.

"Well we're not getting anywhere!" Ed snapped and rubbed his temples in order to stave off the headache that was starting to build behind his eyes.

"That's because neither of us want to go near that." Al replied with a glance at the jar. Over the past six days since the arm had come into their possession it had started to do some strange things and neither of the Elric brothers had wanted any part of touching it. The most visible change was two inches of the arm, the closest to the area that had been lopped off from the gate, was starting to fade, almost to the point where Ed could see through it. The flailing at random times had died down, but when certain people came into the room it would wake back up again and start smashing it's fingers against the glass, almost as if it was trying to attack the person that came in. It didn't react that much to Ed or Al; they figured that since they were around the arm the most it had simply gotten used to them, but when Urahara came in it flailed towards the shopkeeper quite a bit, creeping everyone in the room out. The most unnerving moment though had to have been when Ichigo came in yesterday to pick Ed up for his evening patrol.

Before the teen had even entered the room the arm started plinking its fingers loudly against the glass and distracting Ed from one of his newer theories. When Ichigo had finally knocked on the door the arm was smashing itself so strongly against the jar it was actually moving the entire thing and Ed had to catch it before it smashed to pieces on the floor. When he came back from his evening patrol, cold, annoyed, and tired, Al had told him with a worried look that the arm hadn't stopped for a good five minutes after they left, long enough for the two boys to have completely left the shoten yard.

To put it bluntly it freaked him the hell out. He had no idea why it would do something like that, especially when it came to certain people. What was it that made the arm react that way to Ichigo? It made no sense as of yet and he could see the same perplexed look on his brother's face whenever it happened.

"Touching that thing isn't gonna solve our problems... At least not right now." Ed sighed and stretched his arms over his head to work out a few kinks from leaning over dusty books and coded notebooks for the past umpteen hours. "What we need to do is figure out why it does… Whatever it is that it does. Once we figure that out we should have a better working theory other than that tuning fork idea that Hitsugaya guy had."

"So I take it you're both still stumped?" Ed's voice, yet _not_ Ed's voice spoke behind the door. It opened to reveal the tenth division Taichou as he stepped into the room, and sure enough the arm twitched towards Hitsugaya. He was wearing normal clothes instead of the black and white robes that Ed had originally seen him in, just a green ribbed turtleneck and blue jeans. He looked like a normal kid, except for the way he held himself. He stood upright and held an air of confidence and surety that no fourteen year old could pull off.

"You could say that again." Al said with a frown. Hitsugaya's eyes darted between Al and the arm twitching lightly on the desk.

"Why is it that every time I come in here it does that?" Hitsugaya asked with a distasteful curve of his lips.

"It does that with a lot of people actually." Ed replied from his sitting position on the floor.

Hitsugaya's aqua eyes sharpened on Ed. "Like who?"

Ed shrugged. "You, Urahara, Rukia, sometimes Renji too. Ichigo the most, then there's-"

"Wait. It reacts to Ichigo the most?" Hitsugaya cut Ed off and the two held each other's gazes for a moment. Ed had that feeling again – the one that felt like he _knew_ this guy somehow.

"Yeah, why?" Ed asked. Hitsugaya frowned.

"All the people you mentioned have high levels of reiatsu. Ichigo the most, and he has the least control over it. It makes sense that if this thing is reiatsu sensitive it would react to him the most."

Al scrunched his nose in confusion and sat up so he was sitting cross legged on the floor a few feet away from Ed. "It's actually one of our theories about this thing, well until part of it started to disappear. I thought reiatsu was just spiritual pressure that you could do stuff with."

"It is – to an extent at least." Hitsugaya stated, and then turned to the jar with a thoughtful look. "There are many things that can be done with reiatsu. It can be masked, flared, even condensed to the point of using it as a weapon. In order to use some of my attack maneuvers with Hyorinmaru I have to use reiatsu."

"Like Ichigo's Getsuga thing?" Al asked.

"Getsuga Tenshou I think is what he calls it." Hitsugaya replied with a wry smile. "And yes, that's a perfect example. From what I've seen of it, he pushes a portion of his reiatsu into his blade, where it condenses to a point that it becomes a weapon. He lets it out in a wave or arc, depending on the maneuver he uses. Not only is the opponent hit by a wave of energy, they are – in a sense – getting hit by Ichigo himself."

_Condensed reiatsu_. It was a startling confirmation to the theory he and his brother had come up with. Maybe this thing really was sensitive to reiatsu Ed thought. There was only one way to know for certain though. Ed turned from the jar he was glaring at to look at Hitsugaya.

"Can you make your reiatsu flare right now?" He asked.

Hitsugaya shrugged. "I see no reason why not." He raised his hand and from his palm a small amount of frigid air came out, frosting the jar ever so lightly. The moment it hit the glass the arm smashed itself against the jar in the direct path of the cold air.

"Woah." Al breathed and a small puff of air left his mouth, as if they were outside on a frigid morning, instead of inside the warmth of the shoten and Ed could feel goosebumps rise up on his arm from the dropping temperature.

"So it reacts to reiatsu, not just the person attached to it." Ed said. Hitsugaya nodded and dropped his hand. Ed noticed that the temperature of the room immediately warmed up to a somewhat normal level when he stopped.

"I wonder…" Al said thoughtfully.

"What?" Ed asked. Al looked over and creased his forehead in thought.

"I was just thinking, if it reacts to reiatsu like this, would it do the same with alchemy."

"That's a good question." Ed said and started looking around the room for something to transmute. "Al, pass me that book would ya?" Al nodded and grabbed the book he had been reading over before Hitsugaya came in and with one quick yank Ed tore the book in two down the spine.

"What are you doing?" Hitsugaya asked confusedly.

Ed smiled. "Using Alchemy." Hitsugaya looked as if he was about to say something, probably about tearing the book up but Ed didn't wait for the comment, he clapped his hands the moment the book hit the floor and placed them on either side of the book halves. The crackle and bright blue light took over the book and once the light faded the book was back in one piece.

The smashing sound of breaking glass got Ed's attention immediately. The arm had flailed so violently that it bumped itself off the desk table that was behind Ed. He made a repulsed noise in the back of his throat as the arm squelched itself over at a high rate of speed to the book and immediately coiled itself around it. It honestly looked like a leech; it was stretching its fingers across the crease that had so recently been mended and started to move as if it was trying to suck something out of the pages themselves.

"Holy fuck!" Ed exclaimed and jumped up from his seat on the floor and pushed himself back against the desk.

"Look at it." Hitsugaya said sharply and the three boys watched in wide eyed amazement at what was going on. It was definitely a strange sight, the moment the arm wrapped itself around the book and started doing – whatever it was doing – the end that was almost transparent became thick black and opaque again.

"It's like it… Healed itself." Al murmured.

"I think what you have here gentlemen, is something that _lives_ off reiatsu and potentially eats at energy in whatever form it may be in." Hitsugaya said with a nod. "Urahara said this was taken from your gate. Is that correct?"

"That's right." Al replied. He still didn't tear his eyes away from the arm; it was still looking as if it really was trying to suck energy right out of the book.

"How often does it open in your world?" Hitsugaya asked. Ed was starting to get uncomfortable with Hitsugaya talking so much; it was just so… Bizarre having his own voice speak to him. He shook off the feeling and looked over at the tenth division Taichou.

"Well… It's not really supposed to open. Not unless you die. There are ways of opening it though." Ed replied cryptically. He had a feeling Urahara had filled Hitsugaya in on the gate but knowing someone knew about it and talking about it firsthand were two _very_ different things.

"Brother! That's it!" Al crowed. "Everyone has energy right?"

Ed furrowed his brow in confusion. "Yeah, what about it?"

"Well if the only time the gate is supposed to open is when someone dies or is born, then maybe it was created specifically to absorb and give out energy – create and absorb reiatsu!" Al said excitedly. It looked like he was about to start pacing but the arm in the centre of the floor blocked his step.

"But when Urahara touched it all it did was match his…" _Match his reiatsu… _If Ed were to think only in terms of energy input and output, and matching people's vibration when it came to the arm reacting, then a great many things the gate arm did made a lot of sense. Like in the training facility when they opened up the gate, it took a lot of energy to open it up, so the arms would be looking for energy to take back, an equivalent exchange on the most basic level. It was probably why the hands went for Uryuu first when they opened it; his powers dealt with energy that was _outside_ his body, and in large amounts. To make matters worse, Urahara had given Al that energy pill that boosted all his energy to some retardedly high level, and they were hiding behind a shield – more energy.

Al had been a sitting duck.

But once the hands had found him they had matched his reiatsu, which was maybe why Al said he thought he saw Central. _Because he did_. The gate matched him in vibration and opened the most feasible place for him to go.

Which made Ed almost wince at the next thought: not only would they have to go through the gate again in order to get home, but they would have to let the arms touch them in order for them to match their vibration so it would open up to the right place.

It made a strange kind of sense unfortunately. Ed could understand now why Al's body was taken when they tried to create their mother. They were pulling enough energy out from the gate to create a human body and soul, the gate simply reacted and tried to take away the same amount of energy that it would have taken in order to create that, hence Al being sucked into the gate, and Sensei losing some of her organs when she tried to bring back her son. In order to get Al back and create his mother he had given over his limbs. The transfer was never complete because Wrath had taken them, which was why he only ended up with a disfigured homunculus and Al's soul.

But if the gate could open with a minimal amount of energy output so the arms wouldn't be searching for something to take, and have it match the same frequency at the same time… Then maybe there was a way to do this without having to be touched by those disgusting hands and have the possibility of being torn apart inside the gate after all!

"Living world to Ed. Come in Ed." Hitsugaya waved a hand in front of his face to try and get his attention. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and pointed his finger at Al.

"Al, fix that jar! Hitsugaya, pass me the scissors over there."

"Brother you're acting strange."

"I think I know how this might work!" Ed exclaimed. Al's eyes went wide and he jumped over the arm and collected all the pieces of the jar, then clapped his hands and fixed it. Sure enough the arm let go of the book and went straight back into the jar and coiled itself inside. It was looking like it was trying to suction the jar from the inside now, similar to what it was doing to the book.

Hitsugaya passed him the scissors with a raised brow. Ed nodded his thanks and pulled a small lock of gold hair from his braid and snipped it at the nape of his neck, then tied it in a small knot and dropped the hair inside.

Hitsugaya looked concerned. "You're giving it a piece of your hair?"

"Yeah. It still has my energy right?"

Aqua eyes lit up in understanding. "So it does." He went to reach for the jar and picked it up so everyone could have a better view of what the arm was doing. Its small black fingers eventually detached itself from the inside of the jar and wrapped its fingers around the lock of gold hair. Hitsugaya's mouth hung slack in fascination.

"It's matching your reiatsu Ed." He said quietly.

"What does this mean?" Al asked worriedly.

"That's how I was able to come back to the underground ballroom without the gate taking anything from me. I clapped my hands and used the energy inside me specifically to bring the gate up, nothing more, and nothing less, so the energy output was minimal. I tried to do that as well when we used that augmented human transmutation circle in the training facility."

"Which was why we didn't need anything to transmute in order to bring the gate up." Al nodded. "That might be why I thought I saw Amestris then!" He said excitedly. "When we opened it in the training grounds, after the arm grabbed me I was sure I saw it. Instead of trying to take something from us it was just reaching out to all the energy around us in order to suck it in and match it. Brother we could have gotten home without the gate taking anything from us!"

"I don't know about that much. That circle we used might not be the best course of action. We'll probably have to do the same thing I did in Dad's world in order to get back – open the gate that's inside us."

"Just like Dante said." Al said quietly. Ed paused at the name and the memory that came with it.

"Sort of like what Dante said. We're not using any of her fucked up ways." Ed shuddered at the thought. "What we're going to need to do though, is figure out a way for you to be able to do the clap and only bring up the gate. I don't know if the energy output from just me doing it will be enough for the two of us to get back."

"I was told there are hands just like this that reach out and try to take people, and the damage was quite large, not only to the training facility itself, but the majority of the people who were helping with the experiment." Hitsugaya said thoughtfully with a nod at the jar. "How do you know these hands won't try and hurt you?"

"Well… It's sorta still a theory." Ed said sheepishly as he scratched the back of his neck self consciously. "At least this theory is more sound than the rest of them." Hitsugaya gave him a withering look. "Hey, I went through it before with just myself bringing up the gate so it's possible!"

"All right, all right. So what you're saying," Hitsugaya surmised while trying to placate Ed, "Is that you know how to get home now, you just don't know if you can do it safely yet. Is that correct?"

Ed and Al looked over and shrugged at each other.

"Yeah." They said in unison, and laughed quietly together. Ed felt the first real tinges of hope lifting his spirits like nothing else could. They had a way to get home, to see family and friends again. He could see Granny Pinako in his mind's eye, shrewd and small, with her ever present pipe. Could see the white stone buildings of Central, could almost hear Sciezska and Winry laughing together and the birds singing quietly overhead. He could feel a tightness closing up his throat and cutting his voice off.

They really were going to get home.

* * *

~symphonyofsilence


	12. Because I'm Not Myself You See

Sorry for the delay, I know I said this chappie was supposed to be put up a few days after the last one, but writers block - the unwanted house guest that somehow likes to make themselves at home in my head - decided to visit me. I have shooed him out though, and so I bring you this. I hope you like.

* * *

Hitsugaya stayed with the boys that afternoon and aided them with figuring out the finer points in being able to open the gate with minimal energy. The young white haired Taichou, once he was given a quick explanation on the understanding of Alchemy, was pretty useful in giving ideas. The guy liked to think outside the box, which Ed thought was useful, considering he never really liked boxes in the first place. All they did was create insubstantial reasons for keeping thought and ideas within confines and kept ideas from reaching their full potential.

By mid afternoon the three were talking amiably together until-

"HEEEEEEEELP!" Urahara's voice screeched loudly from across the shoten, and all three boys jumped. Hitsugaya quickly screwed the cap back on the jar and placed it quickly on the desk again. Once he was done Ed grabbed his arm and the three boys ran towards the sound of Urahara's pained shouts.

Ed rounded the corner into the common area and almost fell over.

"SURPRISE!" a large group of people shouted from the common area, making Ed's heart stop beating for what he was sure was at least three seconds.

"…The hell is this?" Ed asked breathlessly. In the common area there was Urahara with his ridiculous smile and the huge guy Tessai standing behind him with a platter heavily laden with food. An apologetic looking Uryuu stood next to a widely smiling Chad, and Rukia, and Orihime were smiling like idiots with what looked like a homemade sign that said 'happy birthday Edward' in sparkly rainbow colored letters and, of all things, cartoon bunnies surrounding his name. Ichigo was standing next to Renji, who had his arm loosely around the waist of the blonde woman he vaguely remembered as Matsumoto, and on the other side of the trio was the guy with the 69 tattoo and spiky hair.

"I probably should have warned you." Al said apologetically through a smile.

"It's my birthday?" Ed asked blankly. With all the work they had been doing it had slipped his mind. Had they actually been here for two weeks already? It didn't seem possible.

"We usually can't do surprise parties," Urahara said, "Too many of us together give off a lot of reiatsu. When we found out you couldn't sense it though…" Urahara shrugged.

"How did you even know the right day?" Ed asked.

"It's simple!" Orihime said brightly. "Al told Uryuu, then Uryuu let it slip one day at school so I found out—"

"I assure you, this was not my intention." Uryuu said while pushing his glasses up his nose.

"So I told Rukia," Orihime continued, as if Uryuu hadn't said a word. "And Rukia got really excited and decided to throw you a party."

"This was your idea?" Ed asked a pink faced Rukia.

"I just thought it would be nice." She said softly and blushed a bit deeper. She looked over at Urahara and gave him a dirty look. "It was _his_ idea to make it a surprise."

"Everyone likes surprises!" Urahara exclaimed, gesturing widely with his hands. Uryuu shook his head and rolled his eyes while Renji huffed.

"Yeah, only if you're the one who's not being surprised." Renji muttered.

"Now, now, this is supposed to be fun!" Urahara chided, then pulled away from the group and towed Ed over to a seat at the large, low table in the centre of the room.

"We have cake and presents!" The blonde named Matsumoto said, then shooed Renji and Ichigo over and wheeled a lopsided cake with army green icing and the letters 'Happy birthday Edw' on it. He looked at the words with a single quirked brow.

"We uh… Ran out of icing." Matsumoto said when she caught Ed's look at the words. Ed almost laughed out loud but once the words were out of the blonde's mouth the atmosphere in the room changed so quickly Ed almost wondered if someone had opened a door to the outside, letting cold air through the room. The majority of the people in the room had taken on an apprehensive state.

"Wait, did you and Orihime make this cake?" Ichigo asked carefully while eyeing the dessert like it had suddenly become a live bomb that could go off at any minute.

"Of course we did!" Orihime clapped her hands and bounced over to Matsumoto, who also started to bounce up and down. "We had so much fun making it! There's sugar and flour in it-"

"And milk and red bean paste," Matsumoto chirruped happily.

"-and mashed up green stuff for the icing!" Orihime finished and the two girls hugged and laughed brightly together. Ichigo and Renji suddenly grabbed their noses and ran for the back of the shoten saying something about allergies while Uryuu and Chad shook their heads in unison.

"It happens every time." Chad laughed, and the two came over to sit with a shell shocked Ed. Hitsugaya and Al came to sit on the other side, and things started to calm down a little after that.

Matsumoto, Hisagi, Hitsugaya and Urahara eventually started chatting together about Seireitei. Uryuu and Chad helped Tessai to serve the meal, which turned out to be vegetable tempura and the most delicious soba Ed had ever tasted.

He was about to head over for thirds when Orihime started to serve the lopsided cake to everyone. Ed smiled and took the plate he was offered and cut a forkful and put it in his mouth, then regretted the motion immediately. By the looks of it no one else had partaken of the cake except Orihime, Matsumoto, and, strangely enough, Chad.

"You like this stuff?" Ed asked quietly while Orihime forced yet another piece on an unsuspecting victim, this time Urahara.

Chad nodded. "It's good." He replied, then shoveled another piece into his mouth. Uryuu and Ichigo – the latter having returned a few minutes after his and Renji's spontaneous allergy moment - shuddered.

"Dude, sometimes you really weird me out with the things you eat." Ichigo said.

"Oh Ichigo, you don't have a piece! Here let me serve you up." Orihime said, and pushed a large slice of cake into Ichigo's hands.

"Uh… Thanks." He replied with a sour expression.

"Don't you want to try it?" She asked. The look on her face was so hopeful and kind that Ichigo gave her a forced smile, and lifted a miniscule piece on his fork to his mouth. His face went a little pale but he chewed and swallowed.

"It's uh… Good?" He said carefully. Orihime smiled so widely Ed was worried her face might crack.

"See, it _is_ good! I told you everyone would like it Rangiku!" The girl said and Matsumoto and Orihime started talking animatedly about food, and all the uses – of all things – of red bean paste.

"Does she usually make the cake?" Al asked as he gingerly prodded at the piece he was given with his fork.

"Orihime likes to cook." Rukia replied carefully, while sitting next to Ed, and pushed her piece off to the side, feigning fullness.

Uryuu sighed. "She also likes red bean paste, much to our chagrin."

Ed smiled as a thought came to him and looked over at Chad, who had finished his piece.

"You want mine?" Ed asked. Chad nodded and he quickly exchanged his slice of cake for Chad's empty plate with a sigh of relief.

* * *

With all the excitement Ed's head was starting to get dizzy and after a few hours he was finally able to get a moment to himself and slipped outside for a breath of much needed fresh, quiet air with his new jacket.

After the cake was served (and secretly disposed of) the gifts had been brought out. Ichigo had given him a cool looking black t-shirt with the words 'Heavy Metal' in large, iron grey letters across the front. Renji had marveled at it, before bugging Ichigo about the shirt he had given the redhead, something about a pineapple. Urahara had given him a brand new notebook. The pages were crisp and unused 'so you can make your own code' the inside page said in his scrawling letters. Uryuu, in a flash of excitement, had given both he and his brother a gift – new coats that could stave off the oncoming cold - while he went on and on about what kinds of stitching he used, and even went into detail about the thread count of the fabric. Ed's red coat was still useful, but with the weather changing as quickly as it was, the jacket did not come amiss.

What also did not come amiss was the fact the jacket bore a striking resemblance to the garb Uryuu had worn down to the training facility the day they had opened the gate for the failed experiment. They were both stark white, with blue piping and trim. His coat reached to his knees and on the back there was even a cross on it, similar to the back of the plush talking toy's head that Ed met once at Ichigo's place. Al's jacket, although not to his knees, was the exact same make, white and blue, with a cross on the back.

Ed smiled sadly as he thought over all the gifts he had received, and a tiny little ache worked its way through his chest. These people may be odd and strange, and when he had first met them he was cautious to say the least, and they definitely did some strange things. But all in all, they were good people, with even better hearts, willing to give and protect the things they loved and even willing to open their arms and homes to two orphaned kids who, in all actuality, fell from the sky to drop on their doorstep. There were no complaints, no scathing remarks about the situation either. It was just an honest and open familiarity that Ed had not felt in a good long while.

When Ed had come to this world he wasn't expecting to find a place that he could feel so comfortable in, and leaving this place, with all these new friends had that tiny ache growing and entering a much more dangerous place: his heart. There were few times in his life that he had ever felt truly at home, the last being when he was young, before the knowledge of what war truly was, before the knowledge of what death was and the hard lesson that had come the day of Winry's parents passing. Before their mother took that fateful trip to a place beyond where Ed and Al could follow. To find something so like the feeling of home, and yet so far from where he was originally from, was a little hard to digest, but there it was, wrapping its invisible welcoming fingers around him.

There was a part of him, a growing part that could see him living in this world, helping them with the war that they would need to fight. True, it would be painful to help in yet another war, see the death and the innocence lost in countless faces, the blood on his hands from more death, and possibly at his own hands- but he could help. He understood a great deal more about warfare than these kids did, and he could help them with that knowledge, and be there to guide them through the worst of it was something Ed found himself truly pondering.

Maybe, if he were to stay, he could save a child from losing that indefinable something that's lost too soon when gunfire surrounds their home, help a family escape the terror that he had learned at too young an age. Maybe…

"It's understandable you're out here." His voice said, and Ed turned to see Hitsugaya leaning against one of the support beams along the shoten porch.

"I seem to get that comment a lot. Am I that easy to read?" Ed sighed.

Hitsugaya shrugged, his ever present frown lifting just the tiniest bit. "I needed a break too."

There was a ringing silence between the two boys as each stared into each other's eyes, broken only by the laughter and muffled chatter of the people inside. Hitsugaya just looked at him, into him, it seemed and Ed was hit once again with the familiarity in them, that pang of unspoken knowledge and understanding the two seemed to have was there, staring with green-blue seriousness and Ed stared back, unable to stop looking. Ed still felt strange whenever they looked at each other, and going by Hitsugaya's face, it was the same for him too.

"So you felt it too then." Ed said quietly, finally voicing his inner thoughts now that the two were alone.

"How could I not?" Hitsugaya huffed, "There are simply too many similarities between you and I for me to ignore. For instance, you're a prodigy, as am I."

_Right out in the open then_. Ed could deal with that. "And you're a dog of the military." Ed replied back in the same tone. Hitsugaya frowned deeply.

"I wouldn't consider what I do to be so low."

"But it's what you are. Don't bother denying it." He had a feeling his first conversation alone with this guy would bring up some weird things, and he was right. Hitsugaya shook his head slowly from side to side.

"I think you have some preconceived ideas about what shinigami do."

"I I have an idea about how the program works." Ed snapped. He understood how the rules went when in a military role. He had learned it at a young enough age that it was almost ingrained in him now, even though he was far from that life, from that world. That this guy could pretend that taking orders and killing when he was told to was as simple as breathing, and to defend those things was ridiculous in Ed's mind.

Thinking about war always seemed to make him touchy.

"Yes I've heard you might… Major Edward Elric." Hitsugaya looked him over again and Ed stilled at his words. There was a long pause in which both boys scowled at each other.

"I don't go by that title anymore." He said quietly, breaking eye contact. The rising anger he had originally felt when Hitsugaya tried to defend himself disappeared as quickly as it showed up. He kicked a single pebble from off the porch so it went skidding across the yard.

"But you did."

"Well I made different choices from—" Ed choked his sentence off.

There was a pause.

"…From me?" Hitsugaya asked softly. The two boys held each others gazes again, bright gold against green-blue.

"…Yeah."

Ed was careful to keep his face a blank mask, but it was hard, looking into those eyes that seemed to know him, that he seemed to know. He had a sudden memory flash behind his eyes–

"_What is this place? What's happened to me?" Ed cried as he looked to the hand Hoenheim held as he pulled him from the doorstep. It was the hand that once was metal, now flesh and bone and normal… but not his. "My face… My hand…"_

_Hoenheim gripped his wrist in a vice grip, running through streets that he had never seen before, filled with people, panic stricken and running just as quickly as they were, all of them wearing strange clothing he had never seen before. Above in the sky, large balloon-like monstrosities floated above, their grey colors tinting their ghastly shadows against the orange and charcoal clouded sky above. _

_He could hear the screams of children, see young mothers gripping their small hands just as tightly as his father held his, their voices calling out names and words he had never heard before, like 'air raid' and 'zeppelins'. They ran faster, around a corner, down and ally and along another street, this one filled with paper banners pasted to grimy brick walls saying 'Britain wants YOU!' in bright letters on paper that had once been pristine white, their shine now faded to a mottled yellow-grey. _

"_What city is this?" He asked in a shaky voice, barely able to contain the panic within him. But the answer never came from his father, another voice, so like his own from _inside_ him-_

"_Who're you?" Ed choked on his own breath and looked disbelievingly to the hand his father still held. _

_A right arm made of flesh. _

"…_Who _ARE_ you?" The voice said again, scared, panicked, small. _

"_Oh God… This isn't my own body…" He whispered harshly to himself as realization finally crashed with an almighty thump and skip of – his? - heart, and if it wasn't for his father pulling him along he would have dropped to his knees right then and there as his legs almost gave out on him._

The memory hit him harder than he would have thought, and Ed closed his eyes to hide away the pain that lanced through him with the remembering of it. Would it have been the same if the gate had opened up in Soul Society? Would he have been thrown into Hitsugaya's body? Heard his anguished cries from inside his head, all while Ed wore that white haori instead of him, Hitsugaya's zanpakuto slung across his back?

"What's wrong?" Hitsugaya asked, eyebrow quirked.

"N-nothing." Ed said, his voice sounded shaken and strained, and he ran a hand through his hair in order to push his bangs back from his face and the emotion from out of his eyes – using his metal hand, and strangely enough, the sight of it calmed him, if only for a moment.

"You're not all that good at lying."

"And you're not that good at taking a hint." Ed snapped.

Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed and seemed to think something over. Ed could see it the moment realization dawned. "This isn't the first time you've experienced this is it."

"Fuckin' prodigies." Ed grumbled. He was starting to gain a new appreciation for all those other people in his past who had said that exact phrase to him in that exact way. Because being smart was one thing, being a friggin' genius however, meant your secrets were laid bare any time you opened your mouth, it seemed. He had never experienced something like this and he was finding it more and more annoying each and every time it happened. And it seemed to be happening with Hitsugaya a lot.

"How many other worlds are out there?" Hitsugaya asked. The undertone of his question was easy to read: _how many have you been to? How many others like us are there?_

"Three that I've seen. My world, the one my father is in, and this one… Well four actually, if you want to count Soul Society – since the gate has opened there too."

"And Hueco Mundo makes it five." Hitsugaya nodded to himself.

"But the possibilities are endless." Ed said with a shake of his head.

"Endless… Do you truly think that?"

"If you asked me that question three weeks ago I might've disagreed. Now…" Ed shrugged.

"I see. And it's your home you want to get to…?" Hitsugaya asked. There was a strange sound in the back of his voice, one that Ed recognized.

"I'm not going fishing for other worlds damn it!" Ed shot back and clenched one of his fists. The tenuous connection he and the guy had was starting to feel more fragile, as if one wrong comment could fray the thin wire of understanding between the two. If Hitsugaya understood him as well as Ed thought he did, his assumptions were way off. True, it would be an interesting idea to travel from world to world, see the differences between each, maybe even create a study, and it was more than once that the idea had snuck itself into the quieter places of his mind, but that would only be possible if all the risk and danger was removed from the equation, something that was absolutely not possible. To travel was to take his own life in his mismatched hands, into the GATE's hands, and that was much too high a risk to take.

Hitsugaya pushed off the support beam and dipped his head and pushed his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. "I never said that you would." He said softly, and Ed almost smiled at the undertone of apology.

"I know that tone Hitsugaya." Ed said with a chuckle.

"You think you know me so well?" Hitsugaya asked with a small quirk of his lips.

"Yeah. I do. Like you said, the similarities between you and me are too hard to ignore. "

"You mean you and _I_."

Ed huffed. "You're gonna lecture me on grammar now?"

"It seems you need it." Hitsugaya sniffed and looked disdainfully over his shoulder into the yard.

"Whatever."

"Hey where'd shorty go?" Renji called from inside. Both boys on the porch tensed.

"Don't call me short!" They yelled in unison at the door, then froze.

Then paused. Then laughed ruefully together.

"Wanna help me kick Renji's ass?" Ed asked.

Hitsugaya's mischievous smile was more than answer enough.

* * *

This was Envy's ticket to the boys and home.

He didn't think he would be able to find the boys hiding so out in the open like they were, maybe they just weren't expecting him to find them. Well, no matter, the fact was, he found them. Envy allowed himself a smirk and climbed through the little window and into the waiting darkness beyond.

It had taken him more than a few days to finally find the place, and the only reason why it was uncovered is because one of them used alchemy not far from where he was searching for them. Like usual, both boys were nowhere to be seen, but it was ok, the Alchemic reaction made near a construction site earlier led him to a building that had the stink of Alchemy all through it, permeating the very ground and walls, making his head buzz and the tiny hairs on his arms rise uncomfortably.

The feeling of it was starting to grate on his nerves, making his arms itch and the sore spot on the side of his head from that fucking arrow a few weeks ago throb painfully. Honestly it was starting to become a twofold reason to find them, first and foremost, for Hoenheim, but also so he could tie their hands up and make sure they didn't do anymore of those annoying Alchemic reactions.

The room he had climbed into was dark, and using his sixth sense he was able to deduce that no one was here, at least for the time being. He searched for the light switch, stumbling around in the dark and cursing under his breath when he tripped over something hard and vaguely waist height. But he eventually found the light switch, and once illuminated he found he was in a bedroom, neat and tidy and small, with a single bed, a desk with the chair he had acquainted his knee with while stumbling in the dark, a bookshelf holding a vast amount of books and picture frames, a closet with one door open where pristinely pressed clothes hung perfectly on wire hangers, and blank, white walls.

Envy paused, frowning. This didn't look like the room where the Elric brats were staying, at least not in this room. For one, there was only one bed. Even if one of them was an overgrown tin can he still would need to sleep. There was no palette on the floor either, which led him to the next possibility…

"The other room…" Envy murmured quietly, and opened the door to the darkened room beyond. The light switch in this room was much easier to find, but the results were much more interesting.

It was a small living area, just as neat and tidy as the last one. There was a long grey couch off to the left, light blue floor pillows strewn about with little white crosses patterned on them, and a small box on a stand with a mirror-like surface with a dark, low coffee table between the box and the couch. He had seen a few of those boxes in shop windows with moving pictures on them before; he remembered the sign saying something like Hi Def TV or something. Why anyone would want to be highly deaf he had no idea, and decided to keep away from the strange technology.

Beyond that there was a tiny kitchen with a tiny sink that would probably only hold five dishes at a time, a gas run stove that was polished to gleaming, a quaint white fridge with a calendar and bills attached to it with magnets and across from that a little table that looked as if it could seat four, but that wasn't what caught his absolute attention. It was the contents on top of the table.

Thin lips turned up in a cold smile. This was definitely the home of an alchemist.

There was a small bag of sand, already opened. A few pieces of wood stacked neatly alongside it, two large measuring cups that he assumed held some kind of liquid at some point in the recent past, a few chunks of unrefined metal of some sort and a few little rocks as well. There was also a notebook, and once Envy fingered that aside there was a small, neat stack of papers under it with different alchemy circles – simple ones, Envy noticed – and beside all of that, an array of little things that had been created. What he took the most interest in though, was the chessboard.

It wasn't overly large or fancy, but the characters were very interesting to look at. Only half of the pieces had been created, but the white side was done up in white and blue, the king had a cape and all of the pawns (which at the moment, consisted of five) all had little bows drawn, as if they were about to shoot the other side down at any given moment. The black side all wore robes, black overtop of white, and all the pawns on that side held drawn swords. Envy stood for a time just staring at one of the black pawns, sure that he had seen such an outfit before, but still unable to place it. He eventually picked up one of the black pieces, one of the better made ones to get a closer look.

He knew immediately that this was not the Elric boys work. A new alchemist. _How interesting_. So did that mean the Alchemy he had been following was this Alchemists trail? No, he decided, this energy was new, it felt different to all the others, much less refined, and although there was that irritating buzz Alchemy always seemed to embody, there was a different feel to the energy that was put into the change; it was… almost an otherworldly feeling. Like Alchemy shouldn't even be done by them…

He placed the black pawn back where he found it, and traced a single finger along the side of the white king. "And who might you be?" He asked quietly to the silence, hoping, but not really expecting an answer. He lifted his hand away from the toy and turned to take in the living room again. There had to be some kind of clue here as to who this new Alchemist was. The best bet was pictures, if the person who lived here were in enough of them it should be easy to place, if they were egotistic and self centered, all the better – those types usually had a wall of themselves plastered somewhere with all their accomplishments.

Unfortunately the Mr/Mrs. New Alchemist was not as egocentric as Envy had hoped. To his dismay, they had very few pictures with only one person in them, and of the four single person shots, they were all different. Almost all of the other images about the house usually had the same four people in them and the majority of them were shots of teens. After finding the fourth picture frame with the same problem he sighed and pulled the backing off the frame – this one a picture of two girls, a redhead and a black haired girl with huge smiles while flashing peace signs at the camera – and hoped that maybe Mr/Mrs New Alchemist would also be meticulous enough to write names on the back. There was a date - which Envy shook his head at. Surely that had to be the wrong date! - But he could find no names. He placed the picture back on the shelf; not bothering to replace the backing on the frame again, then stood in the center of the small living space, and took in his surroundings a little more carefully.

There were many times Envy had to pretend to be another person, and after multiple lifetimes of switching faces it became almost a second nature to glean what he could from what was around him, picking up nuances of personality, vices of soul, the true face of a person, all from looking around a room. Sometimes, if the person was transparent enough, all it would take is a once over with Envy's eyes. He scanned the rooms again, taking a closer look this time around. It was neat and tidy, and no surface even had dust on it. An adult maybe? It was possible, but the pictures strewn about the little apartment had mostly teens in them, so, as deductions went, he was more than likely looking at a teen's home. Girls usually liked to keep up appearances like this. Did that mean he found the orange haired girl? Or possibly the black haired one? He slipped to the bedroom and took a peek in the already open closet. One look there told him what he needed to know. No dresses, no skirts, and no random sparkly, skimpy, spaghetti-strapped abominations that he had been stuck wearing a time or two when he had to keep up female appearances.

One item caught his eye and he pulled the item out. A dark blue shirt that looked strikingly like- He ran back to the living room, quickly scooped up a picture frame, the image held a huge looking ishvalan and a skinny kid with glasses, and the skinny kid was wearing the exact shirt Envy held in his hands.

"Jackpot."

A key noisily sliding into the lock made Envy's head snap up, then he scrambled to place the frame back on the bookshelf in the living room and flick off the lights in record time. He ended up hiding in the bedroom, leaning against the wall so he could look through the crack in the door he stood beside. How the hell this kid managed to slip past his new little power he was unsure of yet, and watched closely as the young man entered the room. He was the exact one he was hoping for, lean, black hair, glasses, crisp shirt even at this time of night. No wonder the entire apartment was spotless; it was the nerd who lived here.

Mr. New Alchemist took off his jacket and placed it on a hook near the door and hung his keys alongside it, then flicked on the lights and started walking towards the kitchen. He stopped in the threshold between kitchen and living room, a scant five paces, Envy noticed, and tensed as his eye landed on something on the coffee table. It was the picture frame backing that Envy had forgotten to attach back to the picture that lived on the bookshelf across the room, and sure enough, the kid's eyes darted to the exact picture it had come from. "Shit. Change of plans." He whispered to himself as he watched Mr. New Alchemist's fists bunch and look suspiciously at the windows that were still locked. The kid was getting closer to the bedroom, and the only way Envy could see himself getting out of this one with the guy's help, was to do what came natural. He held in his mind's eye the person he wanted to look like, and let the shiver of energy wash over his entire body, changing his frame from dark, long hair and purple eyes to something that might help his cause just a little bit more.

Mr. New Alchemist did not react how he thought he would. His head snapped to the bedroom as if he had actually sensed the change, his thin mouth set itself into a grim line and his arm rose up to create a bow – a blue glowing bow – and Envy suddenly remembered exactly who this little shit was and why the costumes on the black pawns looked so frigging familiar. It was him that shot him in the face and the black costumes were worn by those assholes that tried to chase him down just after he had gotten here.

He remembered it with a shiver, because he had never felt quite the same after landing here. His body felt more wrong than he had ever experienced… and yet it felt right in a deeper, darker way that Envy had never felt before. The black body he instinctually changed to while travelling through what must have been the gate was sleek and strong, the power he held in each of his extremities was amazing, he was able to destroy even an entire building, just with a single swipe of his arms. It was singlehandedly the most fearful and glorious moment he had ever experienced. Fearful because of how he looked, glorious for how he felt. He could still feel the power surging under his fingers, coursing through him. It would only take a minute flex of muscle to show that power again. He smiled maliciously into the darkness.

He thought all of this in a matter of seconds, and waited for Mr. New Alchemist to make the first move.

"What do you want with me hollow?" Mr. New Alchemist asked as he pulled an arrow back and aimed it exactly where Envy was standing, as if the kid could see right through the wall and to exactly where he was standing. Envy sobered his smile and tried to look as 'in character' as possible, then pushed the door open and stepped through.

Lust had teased him once or twice about being a drama queen when he needed to be, and perhaps it was true, he thought with an inward chuckle as he watched the young man. His face was the perfect image of shock the moment he light hit Envy's new face. Pale skin paled even further so that he was completely white as a sheet, the hand holding back the shimmering arrow shook just slightly for a moment.

"You know you really don't need to be pointing that at me, do you my dear boy?" He said softly in a good natured voice that creaked just a little with age as he pushed his glasses up his nose and gave a kind, old smile.

"You… You can't be…" Mr. New Alchemist said in a dazed, shaking voice. The kid honestly looked like he was about to fall apart in some internal way, and Envy's inward chuckle turned into an all out laugh of glee and mentally patted himself on the back for picking a good face.

The bedside pictures were always the best ones to imitate.

Now all he needed was the kid's name, and everything would go much easier.

"And why not?" Envy said in the aged, kind voice, and raised his eyebrows in a slight question. Mr. New Alchemist's arrow was starting to dissolve, probably because of lack of focus.

"Because…. Sensei…. You're supposed to be dead."

~TBC~

* * *

A/N: I know, totally evil with the cliffhangers, but I just can't help myself, especially here.

Also, there is a shirt that Renji wears every once in a while that says pineapple on it, supposedly it was a gift that was given to him by Ichigo, and the first time I saw it I laughed, so I had to add it in here.

PS

I have a picture that I drew from this chappie, it's a picture that Tessai took of all of them... At least I think so. If you would like to take a look you totally can, the pic is here:

onlydani. deviantart. com /#/d2ztk8h

Just remember to remove the spaces!


	13. Waking Dreams

This chappie was inspired by the song _You Won't Know_ by _Brand New_. Go listen to it. Like right now. It's really good and goes well with the chappie… Well maybe after is good too. Your choice.

I will also give a warning for some serious angst and violence.

* * *

"_Because…. Sensei…. You're supposed to be dead." _

Uryuu's hands couldn't stop shaking. They couldn't stop shaking because his entire world had just been flipped on its ear. His mentor, protector, surrogate father when Ryuuken was too busy, his sensei who had taught him everything he knew about the way of the Quincy, the man that raised him… Who he saw stretching pale, weathered hands in mercy at the hollows who attacked him that one fateful life changing day, who was given no quarter and slaughtered while black robed shinigami laid in waiting to take his body to the one man that would dissect him like he was a specimen… Whose mutilated picture he had gazed at, horrorstruck at the face he had once known and loved after Kurotsuchi had gotten his oily hands on him…

Now standing in his bedroom doorway looking a little older, a little frailer, and a lot more real than Uryuu had ever remembered him being.

_How could this be… A dream. It has to be a dream…_

"You shouldn't believe everything you hear." Soken said softly, his voice sounded real, like he truly was here. A shadow of sadness seemed to fill his eyes at the words he spoke and Uryuu's bow completely disintegrated.

"How. How are you here?" Uryuu asked quietly, dazed and amazed that his own voice didn't quaver and shake like his insides were doing, while trying at the same time to keep the sheer overwhelming emotions from overtaking him. There was disbelief at his grandfather in the here and now, alive and real. Fear and suspicion that this might be some kind of evil trick from Kurotsuchi, luring him into some false sense of security so he could finally get his hands on the last Quincy. A Soul deep ache that had crept into him all those long years ago when he had seen him fall that had never quite been eradicated. A hollowed out emptiness somewhere deep in his belly where his grandfather's smile used to be. A childish hope that had long ago been snuffed out, hoping that his grandfather and teacher would someday come back, unhurt and unscathed… Just like now.

_It has to be a dream…_

But it wasn't. His grandfather was here, now, in front of his eyes.

His throat hurt, his eyes burned, and even though he tried to keep them steady, he could still feel his hands tremble.

"It's a long story." Soken said sadly, and the shadow in his eyes seemed to clear and soften when he looked Uryuu over. "But what matters is that I'm here now. Please, let's not worry about all the details. There will be time enough for that later. What I want is to hear about you. About your life. I have missed you so."

Uryuu's thin walls keeping the emotions from taking him over finally cracked and the hurt in his throat and the burn in his eyes let loose on him when Soken opened his arms. Uryuu stepped into it, pressing his face into his grandfathers' robes.

And he knew.

He knew in that moment that there was something truly wrong. Truly and thoroughly NOT SOKEN. _Hollow. It's a fucking Hollow!_ His brain shouted at him, even though a part of him just wanted to ignore that horrible, evil feeling creeping over his limbs that simple touch created. All he wanted to do was onto him and just forget that he had ever been taken from him, that he had ever left in the first place. That Uryuu didn't have to live the last nine years of his life without the one man who had mattered more to him than he could ever have thought possible.

The feeling was like a hollow, and yet not the same. There was a different feeling to this, an undercurrent of something more buzzed relentlessly at his fingers just at the mere touch of his grandfathers' robes. _It was a dream then_. A horrible, gut wrenching waking dream that threatened to steal his sanity and probably much more. The pain of separation from his grandfather from each day to this one piled up on him. His entire world suddenly narrowed down to pain, sadness, hurt, anguish, and the very clear knowledge that he would kill this creature if it was the last thing he would ever do.

He let go of Soken and stepped back slowly. Envy was still smiling that smile while using Soken's face. _How dare he._

"That's the last face you're ever going to wear Envy." Uryuu said in the lowest, darkest voice he had ever used, a voice he barely recognized as his own for the startling lack of anything other than malice in it. He formed his bow and took aim right between Envy's eyes.

"And how is it you know that name?" The voice was wrong. No longer Soken's and a shiver went through Uryuu. It was a harder, younger voice that pierced though him. He took the shot, relieved immeasurably that it was no longer Sensei's voice that spoke to him. There would be no worry or regret that shooting his grandfather's face had been a mistake.

Envy moved much faster than he had anticipated. He dropped to the floor in a crouch; both hands touched the grey carpet in a frog-like squat and he changed his shape. A red wave started at his head, it travelled down his entire body and Soken was no more. A wiry, long haired young man with purple eyes and slitted pupils dressed completely in black looked at him, and a cold, triumphant smile stretched across his face.

"That's twice now I've had those arrows shoot at me. I'll need to pay you back for them when I get the chance." His smile disappeared. "Where are they?" Envy growled.

Uryuu let the all encompassing rage that he had for Envy taking on his grandfather's face fill his eyes. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He fired off another arrow, but Envy was damn fast. He could barely catch the battle roll he made to hide behind the couch and the arrow missed him. Instead of hitting Envy it caught the bottom of the living room window and shattered the glass.

An evil chuckle reached Uryuu's ears and the anger came out full force in his bow as he shot arrow after arrow right through the couch, aiming for the sound, and watched with grim hope as feathers and fluff shot into the air that he had hit the creature. He would never, ever call this thing human. Nothing could be this cruel, this evil and still be called that.

"Enough of this shit!" Envy yelled and Uryuu could feel another wave of that sickening almost-but-not-quite-hollow change, and the next thing he knew his entire body was thrown to the wall, pinned there with razor sharp black fingers. Envy was standing by the couch, blood dripping freely from his shoulder but it wasn't Envy looking him over. It was a woman this time, with long wavy black hair, a sleeveless dress and a red tattoo of some kind on her chest, just above her generous black clad breasts. Her hand was stretched outwards and her fingers had somehow grown to some inhumanely long length, holding Uryuu's arms apart and his shirt to the wall. With his hands outstretched there was no way to shoot this thing and he growled inarticulately, tore himself from the wall and dropped down. His arm was bleeding from one of the fingers that pierced him, but not so badly that he still couldn't take aim.

"Where are the Elrics?" Envy shouted in a strong, feminine voice as the fingers retracted.

"Gone to where you can't follow." Uryuu replied, and in a sense it was true. Envy never specified which Elric, and Envy didn't need to know he was talking about their father. He took another shot and Envy ran from the living room to the kitchen where he shoved the table down with a reverberating crash, letting all his new tools fall to the floor in a hail of sand and small trinkets. Uryuu followed every move he made with the arrows but the table was wide and thick, and the arrow that should have pierced his neck struck the faded grain of the wooden surface, burning a hole, but not quite going through.

The glass on the carpet was enough that Uryuu couldn't go anywhere without being careful. He had taken off his shoes when he entered the apartment and stood by the far wall in sock feet. Heirinkyaku would take him to his bedroom in a flash where he knew a pair of rubber soled slippers were tucked carefully under the foot of his bed, but his feet would still have to hit the floor in order to reach them. Seele Schneider would probably be able to pierce through the wood and destroy Envy, but once again they were tucked safely away in his bedroom closet and Uryuu cursed himself for his foolishness. Every other day, every other time he would have carried them in the hidden pocket of his pants, but the birthday celebration for Ed had made him thoughtless. Weak.

Cursing himself wasn't going to get him anywhere however, and running into his room would mean taking his eyes off his opponent. One he very much wanted to kill.

"What do you mean 'gone'!" Envy shouted in that same feminine voice. It was filled with rage, and Uryuu smiled cruelly, glad that he could get this creature even half as mad as he was. Anger made most people clumsy. He however, had been trained since a very young age to keep his calculating brain working through emotions. Even ones as deep and soul cutting as these ones were. The image of his Sensei standing at his bedroom doorway flooded his mind and loss like a physical blow hit him in the stomach. Even pain as deep as this was something he had to fight through. He did it with that sick fuck Kurotsuchi, and he would do it again with Envy. It didn't matter what he had to sacrifice. He would end it.

"I mean that they are beyond your long fingered reach." A careful step to the side, a quick look at the angle he was at, "The boys seem to be smarter than you are." Another step, a small piece of glass just barely grazing his socked foot. "And by the pride of the Quincy, I'm sending you back to the hell you came from." The last step, perfect location, perfect angle.

Uryuu took his shot.

But something was wrong. The same moment the arrow was let loose Envy changed form again, this time to a creature with black skin, long razored teeth and glittering obsidian eyes and the arrow that was supposed to strike true, right through Envy's chest cavity, _bounced off_.

"What…?" Uryuu whispered disbelievingly. His moment of shock was all Envy needed. He pushed off from behind the table with inhuman speed and threw himself at Uryuu, pushing him back against the wall and smashing his arms into the drywall hard enough to dent it.

"You're lying!"

"I assure you I'm not."

A squeeze to his right wrist had the bones in his arm grinding together. Uryuu grit his teeth at the pain but kept his face the cool mask that he needed it to be.

Envy seemed to pause at that and the black eyes and body that towered over Uryuu stilled in thought. The silence in the room took on a deadly quality. Uryuu pushed at the hands holding him but nothing gave way and he was forced to stop, lest he break his own arm from trying to free himself. He gave a good stout kick to Envy's legs but without shoes all he managed to do was stub and almost break his own toes. The black body was so tough it was like kicking pure stone. No wonder why his arrow bounced off. If his body was so hard almost nothing could penetrate it.

Uryuu swallowed down the moment of fear that thought produced. If his arrow couldn't go through then how could a sword? How were they going to defeat this bastard? _I have to get through this and tell the others. They have to be warned. They have to-_

A happy lyrical tuned tore through the apartment and both opponents turned to look at the small table beside the door. Uryuu's cell phone.

_Please let it be Rukia. If envy's transformations were strong enough maybe she picked them up, and if she did and I don't answer she'll probably send one of the shinigami over._ Uryuu's insides clenched a little. Of course it had to be another shinigami that saved his ass. More cannon fodder for Ryuuken to toss at him the next time he saw him for their monthly dinners.

It was on its second ring and Envy let go of one of his hands, changing only the arm closest to the table. He grabbed the phone using the long fingers he had originally pinned Uryuu to the wall with. Envy smiled and in a flash he changed his other arm so that it became long and snakelike, but still thick with muscle. It held Uryuu to the wall, but it slinked over his mouth and his other arm that he tried to hit Envy with, pinning him awkwardly and masking any sound the young Quincy might make.

Third ring and Envy looked confused on how to open it now. He turned the phone over and over in his hand and Uryuu could see the name flicker on its gleaming surface. Kurosaki Ichigo. Great. It always has to be Kurosaki that saves the frigging day. Even held struggling against the wall with an arm over Uryuu's mouth and arms he still had to hold back the roll of his eyes. At least it was someone that was useful Uryuu decided, and if the changes Envy was doing were strong enough, and Uryuu didn't answer, Kurosaki would definitely be one of those people who just checked in to make sure he was safe.

"How do you open this thing?" Envy asked. This time Uryuu really did roll his eyes.

After the fourth ring his voicemail would kick in. Only a few seconds more, and unfortunate but inevitable help would be on the way. Envy just had to stay confused with the phone for a few seconds longer-

The phone clicked open in the middle of the fourth ring, and Envy's entire body, except for the muscled snakelike arm that held him down turned into a mirror image of himself. A cold, dreadful weight settled into the pit of Uryuu's belly. He renewed his fight full force, kicking, squirming, yelling and even biting the arm he was being held down with. Envy hissed but kept up the hold, then brought the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" He said in Uryuu's voice. Uryuu could just barely hear Kurosaki on the other end.

"Geez… long enough."

"I was in the middle of something." Envy smiled at him with his own face and Uryuu had never been so angry. "What can I help you with?"

"Since… Ed's birthday-" Envy's eyes lit up. "… You do patrols… tonight?"

"Sure, I can do that." Envy replied easily.

"Thanks….pick up… Shoten?"

"No, I can't make it there. Do you think you could send Al over here instead?" Uryuu tried to scream but all that came out was a muffled sound and Envy chuckled in what could only be considered as glee.

"Hold on…" he heard Kurosaki say. His voice was getting raw from trying to scream beyond the arm that held him down. There had to be some way of telling Kurosaki about it. There just had to. He tried to rack his brain in order to tell him something was wrong, but being stuck to the wall left him few, if any options.

A thought came to him and he pushed his entire lower body off the wall and aimed a kick to Envy's face. He jerked back just in time and the phone fumbled in his hands. Envy kicked him back in the shins hard and Uryuu's eyes watered at the sting.

"Be a good boy will you?" Envy whispered evilly to him. Uryuu glared blue death at him and tried again, but Envy had moved a pace back, and no matter how he aimed his kicks, there was simply too much room between them.

"Yeah… half an hour?" He heard Kurosaki say over the phone.

_No. I can't let this happen! I can't let this asshole win!_

"Perfect. I have just enough time to clear a few things up then." Envy replied in his voice.

"… Biology notes tomorrow?" Kurosaki wanted his biology notes? Couldn't he figure out that this wasn't him? That although the voice was the same he was too nice? Too kind? It wasn't him! The frustration and indignity of it all made Uryuu see everything through a haze of anger.

"Sure."

"Rukia wants to… Hollow… Took care of them?" Yes! Uryuu thought. They actually had picked up Envy's reiatsu! Envy probably didn't even know what hollows were; he wouldn't know how to respond. Uryuu kept his face as blank as possible when Envy gave him a piercing look.

"Of course I took care of it." Envy replied. _Fuck_. "But I have to go. I'll see you later ok?"

"Yeah… Ishida."

Envy clicked the phone shut and gave him another evil smile. "Well _Ishida_, I think I've learned all I needed to from that little friend of yours, turns out you were keeping things from me." Envy moved the arm blocking his voice to just below his mouth.

"You won't be able to trick them. They know you're here." Uryuu growled in a hoarse scratchy voice. His previous screaming had done a number on his voice and tried to clear his throat and ignore the searing pain in his vocal chords that action produced.

"Yes, I've gathered that. You've been more than helpful my brave young archer." Envy slipped the arm back over his mouth, but also covered his nose and Uryuu stiffened in alarm. "And you're going to help me in more ways than one before I get my hands on Hoenheim."

Uryuu tried to suck in air, but again and again he was met with unwavering resistance. He knew that if he were to struggle what little oxygen he had could be used up more quickly. That thought didn't stop him from trying even harder. He thrashed angrily, pushing every last bit of energy he had into getting out of the grip Envy held him to the wall with. He had to get away, had to get out of this stranglehold he had been put in.

Damn it! It was no use. His wrists burned where Envy held him down and his legs pounded uselessly on the wall behind him. He didn't care anymore whether it was shinigami or even an annoyed neighbor that came to distract Envy. All he needed was a few seconds. Just a few precious seconds in order to get air into his lungs.

He could feel a burn in them, it was as if his entire chest was one hot poker and his eyes were watering from the pain. Things started getting fuzzy around the edges, like his glasses were off, but they still were resting on his nose.

_I'm a Quincy! I need to find a way out of this! I can't die like this!_

But even as those thoughts touched his mind he could feel his arms weaken, his legs lose the strength of the kicks he had been bashing at the wall. Things got dimmer, more blurry.

The last thing he saw before complete darkness took over was his own coldly smiling face.

And he hated Envy even more.

* * *

So the kid's name was Ishida? He was damn strong for what looked like a sixteen year old and it had taken him longer than Envy would have thought for him to lose consciousness. The teen finally slumped against the wall, eyes closed and arms just barely twitching with the last of his fight. When Envy moved his arm back Ishida coughed and took a few shallow breaths but his eyes stayed closed. That was better. He didn't want to kill him, just let him know that Envy was the one in charge… And maybe scare him just a little.

He lifted Ishida in his arms, but the pain in his arm made it much more laborious than he had originally expected. He carried him to the room and dropped Ishida on the bed, then took a long look at the gash on his arm. Why his regeneration ability hadn't kicked in he wasn't sure and he tried to summon his healing powers. No matter the effort he put in the cut stayed open. _What kind of magic is this?_ He grumbled a string of nonsensical half words and stomped to the bathroom in order to find something to staunch the bleeding with. A white towel was folded neatly on the towel rack. He grabbed it and cleaned it up as best he could. It was already clotting but it hurt more than he would have liked to admit.

Once that issue was dealt with he then started searching the closet nearest him for rope, or anything else that might serve as a good way to tie the kid up. The tiny closet in the living room came up empty so he went to the bedroom closet. A few interesting things were found there: A school uniform with a little tag that said 'karakura High', a weird white and blue uniform, complete with cape. Envy raised an eyebrow at that. Did this kid think he was some kind of super hero or something? Well, no matter.

There was a small box at the back and Envy lifted the lid, his curiosity getting the better of him. No rope here but there were a few strange articles. Five metal rods, some small tubes that looked like they were filled with something toxic blue and glowing. He kept his hand from it and slid his fingers along the side of the box. His thumb hit some kind of round disc hiding near the side and a shock went through him, and a hunger rose up in his belly.

There were few things that could raise Envy's hunger. The first being philosophers stones, the second being the cheaper, crappier red stones, but whatever this disc was it had done the same thing. He lifted one of the discs to his nose and sniffed appreciatively. It smelled delicious, and he slipped both of them into his front pocket for later. If this wound on his arm didn't heal up in the next day or so he would probably have to eat one of them.

He closed the box and pushed it to the side so he could keep looking. He eventually found some rough hemp that looked as if it was older than Envy himself. He unraveled a length of it and tugged experimentally. The rope held up nicely. It would have to do. He went back to the bed and tied the kid's hands together, as well as his feet. He made sure to keep his hands in front of him though. He had learned a long time ago not to tie an Alchemists hands behind him. They were sneaky and more than once he had found those bastards creating arrays with anything they could use to get out of their binds.

Ishida was still delightfully unconscious. It worked out well. The only thing he could think of to gag the kid to keep him from yelling if he woke up would either be more rope, or some kind of clothing, and he would prefer to keep the clothing here so he could imitate it. Who knows how long he would be stuck in this body for. If everything went to plan it wouldn't have to be for long. Envy chuckled and checked the binds he had put the kid in. They held up well.

He heard a knock on the door and a thrill of anticipation shot down his spine. He hadn't seen Al since he had been lying on the floor in the underground ballroom. The poor little tin can was so afraid. Heh. Nothing compared to how he would be if he knew it was Envy standing here. He went over a few ideas of how to incapacitate the walking armor. He decided on tearing one of his arms off, then taking the helmet. It would be his best bet. Either that or one of his legs, but once again, Alchemists were extremely sneaky when they had both arms. He would rather get rid of that first.

"Coming." Envy yelled and walked carefully over to the door. When he opened it he was shocked to find a ten year old standing in the doorway. This wasn't Al. Maybe one of the neighbors kids were trying to figure out what all the noise was about?

"Hey Uryuu, I'm ready to go if you are—What happened to your apartment?"

Envy knew that voice; he could never forget it. So the kid had finally gotten his wish of getting his body back huh? Well, that was definitely more useful than he would have thought. He schooled his face into a sheepish expression and stepped out of the door so Al could walk in. "A stray cat got into my apartment." He said carefully, making sure his voice was just the perfect mix between annoyance and concern. "I got it out, but not before it trashed my entire place."

Al looked worried and Envy slipped behind him to close the door while Al looked on in shocked silence. "You tried to shoot the cat?" Al asked with a nudge of his chin at the couch. _Oh right. Well damn._

"It knocked everything over. I was less than impressed. I probably shouldn't have taken my anger out on the poor creature."

"And what happened to the wall!" Al cried. _All right, enough of this_. Envy slipped directly behind Al and raised his arm.

"Occupational hazard." Envy replied. Before the kid could turn around he brought his arm down hard on the back of Al's head. Al crumpled to the ground in a heap.

"That was almost too easy." He said quietly with a laugh, and then went to the bedroom to grab the rope.

Once he had finished tying the kid's hands he found a problem in his plan. He couldn't keep the kids here. The territory was unknown to him, it was better known to the people he had captured. He would have to remove them from this location to something better. After scowering the entire town over and over again for any hint of Alchemy there were a few places he had found that would work perfectly for what he had planned. He changed his shape to that huge bald Major guy he had seen now and then in Central. He would be big enough to carry both these kids to where he wanted them without any problem at all.

He easily picked up Al, then went to the room and picked up Ishida, whose eyes were just starting to flutter open.

"Sorry Ishida, the last thing I need is for you to be awake." He smashed his hand down on the back of Ishida's head in the same location he had smashed Al. He had learned through his training with that bitch Dante that if he were to smash someone on the back of the head in just the right place the person could be rendered perfectly unconscious. These humans were such frail creatures.

He picked Ishida up under his other arm and took a quick look around. After a moment of thought he also grabbed the rope and made his escape through the same window he had originally snuck into.

Now all he needed was the other Elric brat, and everything would be perfect.

* * *

I really hope it wasn't too gruesome? Please let me know what you guys think.

~Symphonyofsilence


	14. Keep Your Friends Close

Omigod I swear life is kicking my ass right now so I'm so so sorry that this has taken so long. I'm not gonna lie here, because of christmas the next chapter will probably get posted in January BUT I have started it, and if things go well then I might actually be able to post it up early. Cross your fingers for me people!

Because it was so long ago that I posted I have tried to make this chappie a little longer than usual for you guys. As always, bon apetite :)

* * *

Ichigo stretched in his seat, hoping, but not really expecting the clock above the teacher's desk to go faster so the last class could be over and done with for the day. His weekend would probably be full of homework, considering the teacher had given them a new project to work on. Something about Geography. He wrote down the essentials so he could look over it later and said a cheerless goodbye to yet another weekend without schoolwork to do.

He was also hoping the uncomfortable tingle shooting down his spine was nothing. All of his friends were acting just… Well strange today. Ever since he had eaten the probably poisonous cake Orihime had given him because he didn't want to hurt her feelings there had been some kind of change between them. She kept smiling at him a lot more than usual and kept offering him her bizarre food. She was even giving him these looks when she thought he didn't notice and that made _him_ feel weird. When he had bugged Uryuu at lunch about the biology notes he asked for the previous day, he just handed him his entire notebook and told him he had to find the notes for himself, the annoying little prick. But he didn't freak out when Ichigo had finished with them and placed the notes in the wrong area in the book. He was waiting for the explosion and had been prepared to yell back because that was just how it seemed to go between the two, but Uryuu didn't even bat an eye, he just filed them in the exact place they were supposed to be originally put in and then _smiled_ at him.

If that wasn't weird enough, Rukia had been daydreaming all day. She was staring out the window with some dumb dreamy expression that just didn't look right on her face. She had also been doodling in her workbook for a good chunk of the day, not all that unusual, all things considered, but when Ichigo had walked by her desk they weren't those horrible drawings of Chappies that she smacked him for when he told her they sucked – they were hearts. With little arrows in them. Rukia never drew hearts.

Ichigo looked around and caught a glance of Chad sitting a few rows behind and to the side of him. Good old dependable Chad. He sat quietly in his seat that looked too small for his huge body and took diligent notes like a normal person. Throughout the day Chad had been giving him a few silent shrugs whenever something strange would happen, and Ichigo would have liked to sit down and talk to his friend about it, but he was too far away to talk to when in class. He had even seen Chad pause when Uryuu hadn't kicked up a stink about the notes though, which made him feel a little better about maybe not being the only one who felt today was unnaturally unusual.

He was so involved in his own thoughts he completely missed what the teacher had said, and it sounded kind of important. He sighed and looked over at Rukia. She still had that smile on her face. He paused for a moment. Maybe she was in a good enough mood to give him a hand. He leaned over and asked what the teacher was going on about with the Kanji lesson. Rukia shook herself out of her daydream and looked at him as if he had two heads.

"I'm not your textbook." She replied in her normal voice, not caring one iota if the teacher could hear them.

"You don't have to be bitchy about it. I just asked a question." He hissed back as the teacher droned on about the lesson with her back to the class and her hand quickly writing out the the Kanji lesson on the board.

"If you paid attention you wouldn't have to ask me."

Uryuu half turned in his seat to glare at them. "Will you keep it down? Class is important."

Ichigo made a face as the teen turned back around. What the hell was his problem anyways? He was about to go on a mental rant about his friends, but then stopped as he realized this was the first time Uryuu was acting like himself all day. Maybe it was just him thinking everyone was acting strange then. He stole a glance at Orihime. She smiled widely at him and waved. He had no idea why, but his cheeks started heating up and he turned back to the teacher as quickly as possible. Ok, so almost everyone was starting to act normal again.

When the bell finally signaled the end of the day Ichigo sighed in relief and slid all of his books into his bag as Orihime skipped happily over to Rukia. "So Rukia, are you ready to go?"

The brunette nodded and placed her own books into her dainty looking bookbag. "I'm ready."

"So will _he_ be coming too?" Orihime asked with a knowing smile. Ichigo frowned. Who the heck were they talking about? He, Chad and Uryuu usually walked home for at least for a portion of the way together. The girls didn't really hang out with Keigo for obvious reasons, and Mizuiro was usually too busy getting picked up at the school doors by one of his older lady friends.

Rukia blushed and that dreamy smile crept onto her face again. "He said he would meet us at the park."

"Who the heck are you talking about?" Ichigo asked, genuinely confused, and a little concerned at Rukia's behavior. She was acting like—_Oh no. Not again._

"Haven't you noticed Ichigo? Rukia and Ed are…" Orihime paused and placed a hand over her mouth to not quite stifle the giggle that slipped out.

Ichigo placed a hand over his eyes. "Let me guess. Everyone knows but me?" He asked weakly. Why the hell couldn't people just tell him about this kind of stuff when it happened? Why did he always have to find out the hard way? A plaintive moan wailed from his book bag sounding vaguely like Kon. He punched his bag and slumped it over his shoulder with a glare that Kon would just keep his mouth shut until they were able to get away from school grounds.

"You say it like you're surprised Ichigo." Uryuu said with a smirk. He looked over at Rukia and did that smile thing again. Uryuu never smiled. What the hell was going on? He was feeling more and more like he was part of a play, and he was the only one who wasn't given the script. "If you want I could come with you. I haven't seen Ed for a little while; I'd like to let him know that Al ended up sleeping at my place since we got back from patrols so late."

Chad had that thoughtful frown again, it was that same look he had on the roof when Uryuu took the biology notes back. Maybe it wasn't just him that was noticing these things.

"It's ok Uryuu, I'll let him know when we meet up with him. You have fun with the guys." Rukia replied, and the two girls left. They were talking quietly and had their heads pressed close together.

"Is it just me, or is everyone acting weird today?" Ichigo said as he watched the two girls walk away.

"What do you mean?" Uryuu asked. Ichigo looked up from pondering and shrugged the feeling off again.

"Never mind, let's go."

The three boys had gotten about five minutes away from school when Ichigo's shinigami badge started shrieking. He pulled his bag towards him in order to pull his old and sometimes annoying friend out of his bag, but first- he pulled his soul phone out of his pocket and flipped it open so he could figure out where they were. "Three hollows, about four blocks that way." He said, pointing his finger in a vaguely southern direction. "Rukia's in the opposite direction. C'mon we can take them." He stuffed the phone back into his pocket and pulled Kon out from the bottom of his bag where he always kept him hidden. Kon's eyes were watering, and he snuffled wetly. If stuffed animals could have broken hearts, this was probably what it would look like.

"Ichigo! Please, oh please tell me it's not true!" Kon wailed loudly while grabbing the lapels of Ichigo's school uniform. He batted the fluff encased arms off his shirt. Why did Kon have to fall apart at a time like this?

"This isn't the time; we've got hollows, now shut up so I can get your soul candy out."

"This isn't the time? How can you say that? Rukia! My wonderful beautiful perfect winter rose… She must have been seduced!" Kon was getting louder with each tearful word, and by the time he was done he was shrieking almost as loudly as the shinigami badge. Ichigo clenched his teeth, prayed that no other classmates were around to hear him arguing with a toy, grabbed Kon by his lion ear, and mercilessly stuffed his hand down his throat.

"You can ask Rukia about it later!" He yelled. He got his hand on the little green pill and pulled it out. Kon went limp and Ichigo dusted the pill off on his shirt, looked critically at the still dusty green ball and grimaced. It didn't matter if he washed the little ball thirty times; it always looked like it wasn't fit for human consumption. He tossed the ball into his mouth and shuddered at the musty taste of it and a shiver went through him. All of a sudden he was standing next to himself, and his teenage body looked about as bad as Kon could probably feel. His bottom lip was quivering pathetically and those ever present tears were almost streaking down his own face.

Ichigo visibly cringed when Kon used the sleeve of his arm as an impromptu handkerchief. "That's disgusting! Fuck Kon, just go home so you can cry without anyone seeing you."

Kon's broken hearted scowl deepened, his entire face lighting up with an intensity he had rarely seen from the mod soul. "Where's that jerk?" He demanded while grabbing Ichigo's lapels again. "The one who stole my Rukia away from me?"

The last stick of Ichigo's patience finally snapped. There were hollows nearby and who knew what kind of havoc they were wreaking on the town while Kon was just standing there falling apart. "We don't have time for this! You can find Fullmetal later, just go home already and keep my sisters safe damn it!" Ichigo yelled back. Kon looked towards the direction of the house, then to the direction of where he could still feel Rukia's reiatsu, clearly torn as to the direction of where he needed to go. "I mean it Kon." He said lowly, trying to let Kon know with as few words as possible the worry he always felt for them when hollows were around.

"Yeah, yeah." Kon muttered and started shuffling towards the direction of Ichigo's house. The redhead relaxed a little in relief. Kon could deal with his shit once the hollows were taken care of, which hopefully wouldn't take too long. He turned abruptly to Chad and Uryuu, who were looking at Kon sympathetically. He felt a twinge of guilt for yelling at him but quickly snuffed the feeling out.

"This way." Ichigo called to them and all three boys ran towards the creatures, leaving the mod soul to head home.

After a few blocks Uryuu raised a hand and pointed into the distance "Is that one of them?" One lone black wing flapped just over the rise of a few multi level apartment buildings.

"It's gotta be." Ichigo pulled Zangetsu from off his back and let the white hilt wrap unfurl behind him. They had to get there before any souls were eaten. He knew that this location had at least two souls hanging around too. He shook off the cold weight that sat like ice in his chest. If he got there fast enough then no one needed to die. Other than the hollows that is.

He turned the corner and was brought up short. Two hollows were on the ground, the first looked almost like a frog that stood almost as high as the apartment building, the second was long and lizard like. The third was in the sky, it was small but it had a long, sharp bone beak that could probably do some nasty damage if they weren't careful, and all of them looked to be chasing one lone soul running as fast as his pudgy little legs would take him.

"I got the big one." He shouted and jumped towards the largest creature. Its back was bulbous and its arms looked as if they grew out of its sides. Thankfully there were only two arms instead of multiples like many others had. An old memory of a book his mother read to him flashed through his mind, the Hunchback of Notre Dame was the name of it, where the character had a horrible deformation on his back. Thinking of his mother, even for that flash also managed to bring up that night. King Fisher. Blood. Hollows. Ichigo slashed through the first hollow harder than he had meant to, but it always happened when he thought of his mother right before killing hollows. He and Zangetsu became that much more angry and efficient when those thoughts came up from the depths of his memories during a fight.

He felt a rush of energy and looked over just in time to watch the lizard-like hollow get destroyed by Chad's El Directo attack.

"Good shot Chad!" Ichigo called from over his shoulder. Chad nodded, but then his eyes widened and looked over Ichigo's shoulder, shooting out his hand towards the redhead as if to warn him. Instinct and the look on Chad's face made him drop to the ground just in time to avoid the snapping mouth of the flying hollow above him.

"Uryuu shoot him already!" He cried in a tumble of quickly rolling limbs in order to keep from the snapping mouth. He just needed to keep away until Uryuu got a shot in. He glanced over to the young Quincy, only narrowly missing another quick snap of a white boned beak. His bow was drawn and he held his arrow ready, but for some reason he wasn't shooting.

"He's too close to Ichigo, I can't get in a shot." Chad yelled, clearly worried.

This wasn't like Uryuu at all, but he couldn't see if there were any obstructions from the ground keeping him from taking his shot. The redhead growled and scrabbled behind him. It didn't take long to find Zangetsu, and he brought him up in a snap of white wrappings and a flash of steel in order to avoid a quick blow of sharp talons the hollow tried to catch him with. One of the talons broke off, evaporating as it hit the pavement beside his ear. The creature screeched, sending a shiver through him that had nothing to do with the cool weather. The space gave him a window and he got to his knees and threw his arm out in a wide arc.

"Getsuga TENSHOU!" he yelled just as Chad yelled 'El Directo' and the creature was hit with a double whammy of two attacks. Its mask cracked and broke into pieces and fell from its face, and the entire hollow exploded into pieces of black that rained down on Ichigo before they disappeared into nothingness.

For the barest moment all he did was kneel there, breathing heavily and trying to get a handle on his emotions. They always seemed to crop up whenever he saw one of the faces. It was the most blissful look he had ever seen on anyone, Soul Society or in the world of the living, and it always happened for that split second right before they disappeared. It always made him feel hollow inside for some reason, inadequate almost, because there were always more of them. He would never be able to free them all.

_Fuckin pussy_… His hollow whined at him. He squeezed his eyes shut and breathed carefully a few times in order to push him back, then got up from the ground, leveling Uryuu with one of his harder stares.

"What the fuck is wrong with you Uryuu?" Ichigo demanded. "I coulda been injured or something."

Uryuu let his bow disintegrate and he hung his head as if in apology. "Sorry Ichigo. I hesitated. I don't know what came over me."

Before Ichigo could say anything more Chad stalked over to the young archer, threw him up against the wall of a building and pushed him up so that Uryuu was eyelevel with the larger teen, Chad's armored arm pinning him to the wall.

"Chad! What the hell are you doing! You can't treat your boyfriend like-"

"You're not Uryuu." Chad's voice, although quieter, somehow cut across Ichigo's words with strength and anger. Uryuu looked shocked and tried to push away from Chad, pushing his legs against the wall of the building to get some kind of grip.

"What the hell are you talking about Chad!" Uryuu choked. His face was going red and Ichigo started running towards the two. This was not the stoic and even tempered Chad he knew. Uryuu coughed and took a shuddering breath. "Of course I'm me! Who else could I-"

"You called Ichigo by his first name, and you haven't called me Sado all day. You hesitated in killing a hollow. Then you _apologized for it_." Chad's other arm grabbed Uryuu's upper arm to still him from trying to get out of his hold. Uryuu grunted and his mouth tightened in pain.

"Chad let him go!" Ichigo yelled, but the moment the words left his mouth he paused, a hairsbreadth from pulling his best friend off Uryuu. The Quincy was smiling coldly and wasn't fighting the hold anymore.

"It's always the boyfriends who know too well." All the hairs on the back of Ichigo's neck rose. That was _not_ _Uryuu's voice_. Was this the Envy creature that Fullmetal had told him about? And if it was, then where the hell was Uryuu? A sharp, queasy feeling twisted in the pit of his stomach for not being able to protect the ones around him. He was supposed to keep people safe! He even talked to Uryuu last night when Rukia's phone started picking up those strange blips near Uryuu's apartment just to make sure everything was ok. He should have gone over and actually checked.

Chad looked as shocked and sick as Ichigo felt, but in a flash his face became hard and impassive. "You're Envy aren't you?" He asked quietly, as if he didn't want to believe his own words.

"It seems I'm getting popular here. I guess I have the Fullmetal pipsqueak to thank for that." Uryuu said – no _Envy_, Ichigo reminded himself – then pushed off the wall with his two feet and planted them right in Chad's stomach, pushing off hard with enough force to loosen Chad's grip. The larger teen stumbled back a pace and Envy spun in the air faster than the redhead had ever seen a person move without using flashstep, then somehow landed on the roof of the building overhead. He was clutching his arm and Ichigo could see a thin trail of blood dripping from between his fingers. "You want the boys back? Then tell Ed you saw me. He'll know where to find me."

He stumbled back as if in pain and out of sight of the high wall on the roof. If he was going to catch this thing it had to be now. "Get back here!" he yelled and flashed to the rooftop. He landed near the spot Envy had just been standing, and now he was backing up, as if afraid of Ichigo and what he would do, but he was smiling, still looking like Uryuu and Ichigo tensed, ready for anything Envy might throw at him. He had no reason to smile; he was cornered on the roof of a building and had nowhere to go.

"Kurosaki's your last name right?" Envy asked as Ichigo planted his feet to create another getsuga attack. "You have a cute family, nice little clinic too." Envy smiled again and popped a hip, then placed his hand on it, looking like he owned the place. His blood went cold as realization of what Envy said sank in.

"Stay away from my family!" Ichigo threw his blade out in an arc, yelling the words that were ingrained in each step of his fighting now. The arc was tinged with black this time; it was as if his hollow waited for these emotional spikes to get his hands on Ichigo's reiatsu. The arc went straight towards Envy but he jumped at the last possible second. When he was in the air a crackle of red swept over his body, and when he landed back on the roof he was met with a long haired, purple eyed person wearing black clothes. It was the exact thing Fullmetal had described on their long boring patrol walks.

"You want me to stay away? The solution is easy. BRING ME HOENHEIM!" He screeched, then ran towards the edge of the building and launched himself off. Ichigo ran towards him in a panic and looked down into the street below. There were people everywhere and Envy must have changed form again because Ichigo couldn't see a single person from his vantage point looking like the creature that had just jumped off the building. There was no way to find him without stopping each and every person, and even if they did, there was no way to pinpoint if it was actually Envy or not.

"FUCK!" Ichigo raged and slammed a fist into the roof, cracking the concrete in his anger. He pushed angrily up and flash stepped back to the ground where Chad was waiting, tense and impatient. "Got away." Ichigo said angrily and shoved his zanpakuto onto his back. "He knows where Uryuu is, and he knows where I live too."

"And he has Al." Chad replied. Deep lines of tension were carved into the lines around his mouth and Ichigo punched the wall beside him in frustration.

"I'll check Uryuu's place and see if there are any clues where they were taken. You call Rukia and meet-"

"I'm going with you." There was an unwavering resolve in the way Chad spoke and Ichigo looked back at his friend. He looked as if he was ready to storm Seireitei again. It was a mixture of sheer determination and anger - an emotion that he never associated with his oldest friend – it was almost radiating from his huge body it was so intense.

"Ok." Ichigo nodded and ruffled the spikes of his hair in impatience. "Do me a favor and still call Rukia." He said dejectedly, "Fullmetal's with her and they both need to know what the situation is."

"Got it." Chad nodded once and pulled out his cell phone while the two started running towards Uryuu's apartment. If he could help it he would find Envy before Fullmetal freaked out, because freak out he would. If it was his sisters- He choked back the bile that rose up in the back of his throat and the fear that struck though his body like lightning. It was the sole reason he became a shinigami. He knew how close Fullmetal and his brother were. The resulting reaction would probably be something he did not want to see.

Fear and desperation hastened his steps towards the Quincy's apartment and he could feel his hollow's angry voice telling him to go faster. They had to find Al and Uryuu if it was the last thing he did.

* * *

"So when did you know that you liked him?" Orihime asked as the two girls walked into the street and towards the park. Rukia's face heated up slightly and the smile she couldn't help curved her lips.

"I don't know. I think it was the first time I met him at Urahara's for that meeting." She replied hesitantly and pulled her bookbag closer to her chest.

"So it was kind of like love at first sight?"

"I don't think I would go so far as to say that, but there definitely was something."

Orihime sighed happily and pulled her gloves on when a cold gust of wind blew at them, whipping their hair from their faces. Rukia inhaled the fresh, crisp scent. It was nice in the cold, much better than summer. She always felt just a little bit more at home in this season.

"And I guess Ed feels the same way." Orihime said quietly. Her head was bowed and a slightly sad expression marred her smooth features. "I mean, it must be nice, knowing that he liked you right away."

Orihime was usually so bright and happy, but recently she had been getting more and more… Not sad really, but quieter, introverted when the two went out on their afterschool patrols. It was simply unlike the bubbly teen, and the more it happened, the more Rukia started to worry about her friend. "Yeah I guess so. Orihime are you all right?" Rukia asked, concern tingeing her words.

Orihime snapped her head up as if she had been caught doing something bad, and a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes brightened her face. "Of course everything is all right! Winter is about to come, the schoolwork we got from Sensei should be fun, and we get to walk around town and get to know lots of different people on our way!"

"Sometimes I think you hide behind that cheerful face of yours. Tell me what's wrong."

Orihime's smile faltered and she tightened the scarf at her neck, not meeting Rukia's eye. "I just wish I was able to feel something like that I guess." She said quietly. Her hands stopped fidgeting. "Knowing that someone special likes you just as much as you like them." She looked off into the distance, and the smile she had, although sad, was much more real than it had been only moments ago.

She had a feeling something like this had been going on, hearing that little speech of hers pretty much sealed the deal. Well, that and the love struck looks she had been giving Ichigo these past few weeks. "You like him don't you?" Rukia asked. Orihime looked up, her smile faded and she raised her hands defensively, waiving Rukia off.

"I don't like Ed! He's nice and all and it's really neat that his arm is completely metal but we're just friends. You know, he's kind of like this half robot half person if you think about it, and if you ask me that's way more interesting than a full robot! Although seeing a real live robot would be really cool-"

"I didn't mean Ed." Rukia said quickly. On their patrols Orihime had talked before about robots, and she had babbled when she got nervous before. Rukia could easily see where this was going and tried to stop it before the situation got worse and they ended up talking about aliens and ice cream all in the same sentence. Again.

"Oh."

"Why don't you just tell him you like him?"

"Oh I couldn't do that!" Orihime said anxiously. "I'd be too scared, he has so much to worry about as it is, I don't want to worry him. And besides, what would happen if he… If he-"

"I understand." Rukia patted her arm. Putting yourself out there with the possibility of getting shot down was one of the scariest things she could think of. When fighting hollows, it was only her body that would be damaged, telling someone you liked them with the possibility of having your feelings not returned however was a matter of the heart, and that tended to bruise much more easily and be much more complicated to heal. It was one of the very few things Unohana-Taichou couldn't heal.

"Hey look, there's the park!" Orihime pointed a gloved finger towards one of the leafless trees spanning the perimeter of the park that came into view. Underneath stood Ed, wearing his red jacket and his hair in a ponytail instead of the knotted braid he usually wore. A quick irrational want to slip her fingers in his hair came over her. She blushed a bit, thankful for the cold weather so she could blame her bright cheeks on the wind.

Now that she got a good look at him he was looking slightly tense and uncomfortable. Probably because of the temperature Rukia thought; it more than likely bugged his metal arm and leg. Metal was probably not very good at insulating against the cold.

He turned to look at the two approaching girls with a small smile and without warning it felt like all the hell butterflies in all of Seireitei just filled up her stomach. Unfortunately the feeling was cut short when her soul phone went off. She cursed under her breath, pulled the silver phone out of her pocket and flipped it open to find out what was going on. Three low level hollows were near a commercial area. She was about to drop everything and run over but saw three little red dots from the GPS beacons in Ichigo and company's soul phones running towards the hollow trio.

"Should we help them?" Orihime asked from over her shoulder as she took a look at the little screen. Rukia shook her head.

"No, they're just low level ones, the boys should be able to take care of it without any problems, and they're closer to them than we are anyways. By the time we get there they'll already be cleansed." Rukia snapped it shut and placed the phone back in her pocket, then walked the last few paces towards Ed.

He really did look worried. "Hey, have you seen Al? He didn't come back from patrols last night." Ed asked as soon as they were close enough. Rukia placed a hand on his arm in hopes of removing the thin line of concern from between his brows.

"It's ok, I talked to Uryuu today, they got back late and Al ended up staying over at his place." Ed let out an explosive sigh and pushed his bangs back from his face.

"OK good. I was getting worried." He replied and gave her a rueful smile. His golden eyes seemed to focus on Rukia and that smile that hadn't seemed to go away all day came back full force. "Hi." He said softly, and took her hand in his left one. It was cold, but not uncomfortably so.

"Um… I'm getting cold, I think I'll go over there and pick us all up some hot cocoa." Orihime declared and before Rukia could stop her the girl ran off in the direction of one of the small shops that dotted the street facing the park.

"I think she planned that." Rukia said with an eye on Orihime's retreating back, her bright scarf trailing behind her in the wind.

"I think you're right." Ed replied. Rukia slipped her other hand into Ed's metal one and faced him properly. At this angle she could see the dark bronze flecks in his eyes and the way his nose turned up just the tiniest bit at the end.

"So you're coming on patrols with us today?" She asked. Ed nodded.

"Urahara's driving me nuts, same with Renji." He grumbled, took a cursory look around the deserted park, leaned down and kissed Rukia. It was just a quick kiss, like the ones to say hello or goodbye, but it still warmed her insides up and left her wanting just one more. They always did it seemed. "And I kinda wanted to do that without Renji trying to kick me or Matsumoto trying to take pictures." He said quietly against her lips before pulling away. "I don't think people here really understand what privacy means sometimes."

Rukia laughed. "I think I know what you mean." The soul phone buzzed in her pocket and she put up a single finger, then pulled the phone out. All three hollows had been destroyed, but that weird blip that kept coming up on her phone last night happened again. It was just a flash, like a hollow had shown up, but then destroyed right away. Either the Quincy's powers of detection when it came to sensing hollows were getting better, or something was wrong with her soul phone.

"Is something wrong?" Ed asked. Rukia scowled at the piece of technology in her hand.

"I keep getting these blips near Uryuu. I guess he's just really good at shooting down hollows that show up."

"You sure? Sounds like you almost don't believe it."

"Well, Uryuu is really sensitive to hollows, he can pick them up before they show up on the soul phone sometimes. I guess- There it is again!" Rukia replied. Just a quick blip – and then nothing. She shook the soul phone in the hopes that maybe it would help. Maybe she would get Urahara to look at it later.

"Hot cocoa for everyone!" Orihime said and trotted with a drink tray that held three cups towards the two.

"Thanks Orihime." Ed picked up the one closest to him and handed it to Rukia, then pulled a second one for himself.

"Oh it's no trouble at all." Orihime took her own disposable cup and took a tentative sip. Her eyes closed in bliss. "Mmm. I love hot cocoa."

"Me too." Rukia agreed and took a sip of her own. It was rich and creamy and just the right temperature. She could feel the warmth of the cup seep into her hands, and with another careful swallow she could feel the confused tension from the possibly faulty soul phone loosen from her shoulders.

"Ok, so where to first?" Orihime asked as the three started walking.

"Well the boys just took care of those hollows on the other side of town, so we should probably go this way." Rukia said and started walking towards the residential area of town. Ed walked beside her and took her hand. The smile and butterflies showed up again.

"Ok, I like that idea, maybe we'll meet some interesting people on the way." Orihime said. Ed smiled.

"I think I've had enough of interesting people for one day. Let's just hope for normal."

Before she was able to reply Rukia's phone started ringing. _Is it going to do this all day?_ She let go of Ed's hand and pulled it out of her pocket again. It looked like Chad was trying to call. Her guess was because Ichigo had left his own phone with his body somewhere. She opened the phone and prepared herself for Ichigo to yell something obnoxious at her.

"Hello?"

"Rukia! We found Envy but we lost him in the crowds. He was pretending to be Uryuu." Chad's low voice rumbled angrily through the phone.

Rukia froze her steps as fear and shock descended like a black weight on her. "Are you sure?"

"He changed form right in front of us. He's injured so I don't think he can get too far without us knowing. We're going over to Uryuu's place now to find out if we can track him."

"How long do you think he was pretending to be Uryuu?" Rukia asked. Ed stopped dead in his tracks and his face went pale.

"Not long, probably only today I think. He was acting strange so I knew. When I confronted him he changed shape and ran off."

"What about Al?" She said worriedly. _If Uryuu was taken and Al was with him…_

"What about Al?" Ed gripped her upper arm and he looked frightened and intent on knowing what was going on. Rukia covered the mouthpiece of the phone.

"Envy was pretending to be Uryuu. Chad and Ichigo think he has Uryuu and Al somewhere but they're not sure yet." Rukia bit her lip. Al was Ed's world; she had known that from the very beginning. If anything were to happen to him she would never forgive herself and from the look Ed had, he wouldn't either.

"Ichigo wants to talk to you." Chad said quickly.

"Ok, put him on."

" Rukia! Please tell me Fullmetal is there!" Ichigo crowed into the mouthpiece of the phone. Rukia pulled the phone away from her ear with a wince and looked at Ed, who was looking more and more worried and guilty the more the conversation went on. She locked eyes with him.

"Yes he is. Why?"

"I need to talk to him, put him on the phone." He replied loudly with a huff of breath. It sounded like he was running full out while still trying to have a conversation. The worry and fear in his voice was starting to affect her, she could feel her heartbeat quicken.

"I'm putting you on speakerphone." She said quickly, then pulled the phone away from her ear and pressed one of the little buttons. Immediately Ichigo's panting breaths could easily be heard for all of them.

Ed stepped forward and held the same hand that Rukia held the phone with. "What the hell is going on Ichigo? And where's Al?" He shouted worriedly.

Rukia could hear a growl and a muffled curse from the other end. "We don't know where he is. We're heading over to Uryuu's now. He fuckin' tricked us that bastard. I didn't even know he was Envy."

"That's what Envy does." Ed placed one of his hands over his face, looking more weary and older than his barely eighteen years. Again she was caught off guard by the maturity in him. Physically he may be just another teen, but the way he moved, spoke, held himself always showed an older, almost world-weary person. His head snapped up suddenly and his eyes were intent on the phone in her hand. "Where did you last see him?"

"On the roof of some building." Ichigo replied immediately. "The asshole just jumped off into a crowd of people and we lost him. But he wanted me to give you a message."

"Me? What was it?"

Ichigo paused for a moment, his huffing breaths loud in the silence of the three of them. "He says if you want your brother back you know where to find him. He wants that Hoenheim guy real bad."

"I know." He said I would know where to find him?" Ed asked with a frown.

"I didn't understand it either. But get this: he knows where I live too. He musta been following us for a while now."

Ed went very still all of a sudden and Rukia could feel a tremor go through him from their connected hands still holding the cell phone. It didn't look like Ed was about to reply, his mind was going as quickly as his prodigy brain would allow.

A sudden thought came to Rukia. "Ichigo will you guys need help?"

"No, we got this. If we find Envy I'll get Chad to call you or something. I have a feeling he won't be at the apartment though." He grumbled unhappily.

Ed turned to Orihime, who was looking stunned and worried, her hot cocoa completely forgotten about. "You got a cell phone right?"

Orihime blinked in surprise but nodded. "Yes. Why?"

"Call Urahara now. Tell him we're coming over. And tell him to pull out a map of Karakura too." Orihime nodded and immediately pulled her cell phone from her pocket and started dialing furiously.

Rukia turned back to the phone. "Ichigo, keep us in the loop about what you find. Any information will be helpful right now."

"Well I got one piece of info for you, Envy was injured, Uryuu and Al must have put up a fight."

Ed's smile was the perfect image of frustrated happiness. "Good."

Ichigo huffed into the phone; he was clearly starting to get out of breath. "We're almost there. I gotta go. Do what you can and we'll meet back at the Shoten once we find out what's going on."

"Got it." Rukia replied.

Orihime leaned over from where she was standing to speak into the phone Rukia held. "Be careful Ichigo." She said nervously.

"I will. Bye." Ichigo said and the line went dead.

* * *

I love your reviews, please feed my addiction for them?

~Symphonyofsilence


	15. The Bait is Set

So this month marks the one year anniversary of this story, and I can't believe this has gotten over ten thousand hits! I want to thank you all for your encouraging comments and awesome reviews, it lets me know how much you are all enjoying the story.

On a completely different note, I finally have the internet again! And do you know what the first thing I did was? Yeah, put this new chappie up. I hope you all enjoy it XD

Oh yeah, If you guys notice any spelling errors please let me know so I can fix it.

* * *

Half formed dreams plagued his mind, something involving a black hollow that had no mask, his grandfathers face and voices that echoed strangely off unseen, faraway walls. He struggled away from the darkness of the nightmare and came awake to his own panting breaths echoing oddly in the same way Soken's had in the dream. It was a slow, inevitable realization that he was no longer in his house or his bed, where he knew he should have been. Sleep still wrapped uncomfortable, fuzzy arms around his slowly waking mind, and although he knew something was very wrong he was still unsure of what. When Uryuu's eyes finally fluttered open he was met with the same fuzziness his mind was supplying him with, and after a few seconds of confusing head shaking he was finally able to decipher that he was sans glasses and sitting up. And his head and right arm hurt. A lot. He felt he should know where he was, but nothing surrounding him was familiar at all, just grey walls and a high ceiling he couldn't completely focus on.

"Oh shit, my head…" He grumbled, blinking blearily into the dank greyness surrounding him. His voice echoed again and he tried to lift his hand to wipe at his eyes only to find that both of them were tied tightly to the arms of some grimy school chair that had been in style before even his father went to elementary school. "The hell is this place?" He asked confusedly.

A quick struggle left his head pounding, the ropes around his wrists cutting harshly into his skin. The fog inside his mind was finally starting to ebb, and in a flash it all came back to striking, painful reality, and a sharp burning pain somewhere in his chest went off like a firecracker. The memory of his grandfather being impersonated by Envy, and the emptiness that he had worked so hard to ignore since he had left suddenly seemed like a gaping chasm and he was teetering on the edge, small and insignificant and so easily able to lose his balance and fall in with no way out. He smashed his head back, trying with all the physical force he could muster to push the pain and gaping hole away, only to come in contact with something hard and vaguely skull shaped. A low grunt met his ears. He recognized that voice.

"Al is that you?" He asked, shaking his chair in order to jostle the other occupant directly behind him.

"Unnnnng –" Was the resounding reply.

"AL! Wake up!" He hissed, shaking his chair once more.

"Uryuu is that you?" Al's voice echoed groggily behind him, and through the connection of their seats pushed together back to back he could feel Al shaking his head as he came awake more fully. "Where are we, and what happened?" He sounded confused, young and small, and Uryuu belatedly remembered just how physically young the youngest Elric truly was.

"I don't know where we are, my glasses are gone and I'm tied up." Uryuu growled. The frustration welled up anew, his hands clenching into tight fists against the cold metal of the chair.

"I'm the same way. Hey wait a minute. You hit me!" Al said indignantly.

"I did not!"

"You did too! I came to your apartment, that was totally destroyed by the way, and you hit me!"

Uryuu tipped his head down to look at his blurry lap. "That was Envy." He said through clenched teeth.

"You must really hate cats now that I think about – What? ENVY?" Al turned so sharply his chair screeched on the concrete floor beneath them.

"He found my apartment. I don't even know how." Uryuu squeezed his eyes shut. "The bastard was pretending to be my grandfather."

"That sounds like something he'd do." Al replied softly. "He did things like that in Amestris too. Brother was right, he's evil."

"You'll find no argument from me on that one."

Uryuu scowled into the darkness, finding only more things to not quite focus on. He was able to make out a few small windows set high up on the walls, and every time the wind blew they rattled ominously with the same echoing clatter of their voices. If it was Envy that brought them here, which was a pretty good bet, then what was the reason? The only thing his heart seemed set on was getting his hands on the Elric brothers and their father, which neither of them knew the whereabouts of. The only person that might know was— "You're brother. Envy's after him isn't he?"

"It's the only rational conclusion." Al still had that scared little boy sound to his voice. The chairs shuddered together as both boys tried with renewed energy to get free of the binds.

"I can't get free. What about you?" Al asked.

"He's good at tying knots." Was Uryuu's only reply with a grating twist to his already bruised wrist. The movement jarred his right arm and the wound Envy inflicted on him throbbed again painfully. "Is there any way you can use your Alchemy to get us out of this?"

"My hands are tied to the arm supports, there's no way I can clap and I can't reach my pocket either."

"What would you keep in your pocket that you could use in this situation?"

"Chalk." Uryuu could feel Al's shoulders twisting this way and that, trying to get out of the chair. "All alchemists carry some. It can be drawn on almost any surface. Urahara had some in his shop at the front so I borrowed some."

"You mean stole it?" Uryuu said with a half smile.

"Borrowed."

"…Right."

Uryuu kept trying to get out of the chair, but the more he tried the more fruitless his efforts became. With a final frustrating growl he gave up, and tipped his head upwards to stare pointlessly at the ceiling above. He was able to make out tiny glints of steel even in this dim light. The ceiling was exposed to see the ductwork he assumed, and another long look around the room with Uryuu trying to focus on things left him at the conclusion they were in some kind of abandoned warehouse.

"I wonder how long we were out for?" Al asked quietly.

"At least the whole night, and part of the day as well. Take a look out the window." Uryuu nudged his chin towards one of the windows, temporarily forgetting that Al was unable to see him. The younger Elric twisted in his chair to crane his neck in order to see it.

"How could we be out for so long?"

"I don't know." Uryuu replied with the same confusion in his voice. Al had a good point, when rendered unconscious he was usually out for maybe half an hour, an hour at most. How could they both be asleep for so long without waking up? He felt, more than saw Al kick something, and the sound of a glass bottle rolling along the floor behind him caught his attention.

"Chloroform." Al said the word like a curse, and a moment later a small dark brown bottle rolled into Uryuu's line of sight. He couldn't make out the words on it, but the thickly viscous liquid inside was hard to mistake. "It looks like we're in a warehouse of some kind- Oh God."

In all the stories Al had shared with him nothing like this had never come up, but the tone in which he had said it, as if a painful memory was striking at his mind with the force of a kidou blast made Uryuu's agitation ratchet up another notch. "Will you be alright?" He asked quickly.

He heard Al swallow thickly, and after a tense moment he could feel the younger boy's nod through their chairs. "I'll be fine. Thanks."

"What we need," Uryuu said decisively, "is a plan. What if –"

"Someone's coming!" Al hissed, and as he stilled he was able to make out the sound of an old door, rickety with disuse and a long needed application of oil screeching open somewhere off to his right. There was a moment of silence, then it shut again with another screech and a reverberating thump. His heart picked up pace again. He reached out with his senses, trying to figure out who this new person was, but try as he might he couldn't make it out. It was as if they had absolutely no reiatsu at all. Uryuu turned towards the rhythmic crunch of footfalls under gravel shrouded concrete that was coming closer.

"You're finally up? That's a relief. I thought I thought I might have needed to punch you awake or something." An older man came into view wearing a doctors coat over a brown, nondescript suit and tie, something Uryuu was intimately aware of. He had seen that exact coat donned by his father for countless years, but the man wearing it was no one he recognized. He seemed old, and had a kind, wide face. In the dim he was able to see streaks of silver at the mans temples, but not much more.

"Dr. Marcoh?" Al's body was shaking with strain, near vibrating with it. Uryuu could feel the anger and hurt of his reiatsu crackling along the back of his upper arms and along his neck. _This has got to be what it feels like to be electrocuted_ Uryuu thought with an annoyed frown. "Of all the people you had to pretend to be. Why him?"

The man gave a slow smirk, and even without his glasses Uryuu could see the cold hatred radiating from his face. "Turns out he's useful even on this side of the gate. People like old doctors, they feel safe around them. That's where we are, aren't we?" Envy asked, dropping the smile and looking between him and Al.

"I don't have to tell you anything." Al spat.

"My my, I think you actually might have grown a backbone since we saw each other last." Envy strode towards them, picked up the bottle of chloroform and set it on a rickety old dust covered box about ten paces away. If Uryuu squinted just the right way he could make out a pair of square rimmed glasses. "I don't know if I'll need this again, it all depends on whether you're noisy or not."

"Give me back my glasses. And how did you find me?" Uryuu asked.

"That's an answer for another time." Envy lifted the glasses, took a few paces towards him and jammed them on his face. They didn't sit right, and his left ear stung from where one of the arms scraped the sensitive cartilage. Envy walked a few paces back, and his hand came up to grip at his left upper arm, massaging it as if it hurt and a wince of pain tightened the man's features. "What the hell was in that arrow you hit me with?"

"In it?" Uryuu asked blankly. Of all the questions Envy could ask, he wasn't expecting that one.

While he pretended to consider the question, Uryuu looked around the room as nonchalantly as possible. He was able to take the room in more carefully now that he could see, and it was much larger than he had originally thought. Mostly empty, the closest wall was at least one hundred feet away and the ceiling was at least three stories high. It was large enough for a factory, or maybe even a movie set and it made him feel small and unaccountably human in the huge space.

Envy scoffed loudly. "Don't play the little fool here, it doesn't suit you."

"It's made up of spirit particles, that's all." Uryuu paused, then smiled wickedly. "Why, your wounds not healing properly?" He asked snidely.

"Shutup you stupid little archer. I don't need to hear it right now. And what are spirit particles?"

Uryuu's fists clenched despite himself. "Quincy."

"What?" Envy asked, head cocked to the side in confusion.

"I said I'm a Quincy. I would prefer you would address me as such." Uryuu replied stiffly.

Envy turned his head slightly towards Al, pumping a thumb in Uryuu's direction. "He always this stick-up-his-ass polite?"

"I'm not telling you anything remember?" Al replied angrily, his voice echoing off the high ceiling. "You know brother's gonna find us soon."

"That's the idea little Elric. And once that happens I'll finally be able to get my hands on that bastard father of ours."

"Brother will win. You know it too." It was said with absolute certainty, with the faith of someone who knew without a doubt. It was infecting, and Uryuu had a moment where he believed it just as much as Al surely did. He never had a brother or sister to have that kind of faith in, no one really that he could think of other than his grandfather, and more recently Sado, and for the briefest moment the corners of his lips lifted in a smile.

Envy chuckled without any real joy. "Who said anything about me being interested in winning against the fullmetal pipsqueak. I already beat him once, and it was supposed to be permanent. You think he'd be dumb enough to do it again?" Silence met his echoing words and he smiled once more. "That's what I thought." He turned his back then, striding towards the box that the chloroform bottle was set on.

"So what are you planning?" Uryuu asked, hoping to delay any thoughts Envy might have of dosing them again.

He turned his head towards him. "All I want is a trade little Quintet." He said simply.

"Quincy!" He snapped.

"Quincy, Quintet, Ishida- all names for some forgettable little human."

"Tell that to your injuries." Uryuu retorted.

Envy spun around fully, looking like he was about to say something but Al spoke before another argument could start. "But we don't even have anything to trade! We just landed here like you did."

"Ah but there's just one difference," Envy held out his hand in a poor approximation of a teacher giving a lesson to an exceptionally slow student. "One of you knows where Hoenheim is, and I'm pretty sure it's your runt of a brother. I'm just going to propose a trade." The outstretched hand retracted and wrapped around his left arm again, and it was easy to see the dark red bloom of color against the stark white of the medical coat. "But first…"

Envy let go of his arm, then reached into one of the coat pockets, pulling out a round disc. The energy it gave off left no confusion as to what Envy held between his fingers and Uryuu's heart nearly stopped in absolute fear before it started racing, slamming a nervous tattoo against his ribcage. He could feel his face draining of all color, and he tried anew to inconspicuously get out of the binds. "What are you doing with that?" He asked. For the first time since this whole ordeal started his voice actually sounded worried, afraid, and no matter what he couldn't keep it from his voice.

Envy lifted it to his nose and inhaled deeply. "Smells delicious. There's not a lot of things that make me hungry you know. Makes me wonder what it's made of."

"Family recipe. It's a secret." Uryuu said shortly. If he didn't play this properly there was a very real possibility a lot of people would die, and here he was, tied to a chair and completely helpless in the face of it all. If he told Envy what he held, then he might try to use it to his benefit, creating yet more chaos while trying to get his hands on Ed. Not telling him however, left the possibility of Envy treating it like a toy, maybe even breaking it and creating just as much havoc through sheer ignorance. Both situations were sobering, and Uryuu's mind went through at least five simulations of this problem, all leading to Envy being a fool and snapping the disc, whether he knew what it was or not. _Of all the things he had to find..._

"I kinda figured you'd say something like that. The prissy types never like to share."

"I'm NOT PRISSY!" Uryuu snapped, his voice echoed back to him over again and he mentally cursed himself for losing his cool.

"Sure you're not." Envy motioned with his hand to bring the disc towards his mouth.

"What are you doing?" Uryuu said incredulously. "Envy don't eat it! Just leave it alone, you don't know what you're messing with."

He could feel Al turn his head towards him. "What is that thing he's holding?" Al asked, barely audible to his ears.

"It's hollow bait." His lowered voice in response to Al's question sounded much more panicked than he'd like, but visions of the entire town being engulfed in hollows again was far to close a reality right now. His mouth went horribly dry, and his palms were damp with sweat, slick against the arms of the chair. "If he snaps it the entire town could be-"

"It's so cute you think I'm built like a human." Envy gave him a sardonic smirk. "If this is anything like the stones, then it should help me heal." He flipped the bait as if it were a smarty with his thumb and caught it in his mouth.

"DON'T!" He and Al shouted in unison, but it was too little too late, and Uryuu watched in stunned horror as Envy's adam's apple dipped, swallowing the little disc.

There were only three instances in Uryuu's life where hollow bait was snapped. The first time was with his grandfather when he was young. They were in a glade, far away from the populace and it was used so Uryuu could see the full strength of his grandfather's power. The second being after he could manifest his own bow, and was used in training. The third, and most foolish was with Kurosaki and that stupid fight he picked.

There was usually a feeling that accompanied hollow bait being snapped, as if a thousand people with strong reiatsu suddenly crowded him, pushing up against his skin and reiatsu, beating at his senses to the point where he thought he would suffocate. It was fleeting though, there and gone again in an instant, but strong enough to get the attention of low and high level hollows alike, and Uryuu waited for that feeling to come… But it didn't, and not a second later Envy opened his mouth and belched so loud his ears rang.

"Well that was disgusting." Envy said with a distasteful frown, then looked at Uryuu accusingly. "What the hell are these things?" He pulled a second one out from the same coat pocket the first one was fished out of, and the cool wash of relief-tinged-confusion that he felt was whisked away, replaced by the hard truth that Envy had found them both.

"Please Envy, just leave them be." He pleaded, almost begging the hollow, but he didn't care, couldn't care either. There was no way he could let it happen again, the possibility that people could get hurt grated at him and he could hear his fathers words inside his head berating him for creating the bait in the first place all those years ago. Everyone was at risk if it snapped: perfect strangers with their own lives, his friends, the shinigami, possibly even Sado, even his bastard father was at risk and all because he didn't say anything. "You have no idea what you're playing with… _Please._"

Envy shrugged, holding the one lone disc in the palm of his open hand. "Well they're useless to me. What the fuck do I need them for if they aren't going to do anything?"

"Just pass it over…" he said encouragingly.

"Ha! You think I'm going to fall for that?" He gave an evil laugh, and with one seemingly simple move, crushed the bait in the palm of his hand when he contracted his fingers into a fist.

The feeling arose, hard and dark, pressing at his senses with the same feeling of a sharp blade against his skin, contracting around him so that even the air felt tight, like a living thing. For a fleeting moment he felt as if he was a tiny speck in a sea of countless people, drowning in their energy, and just as it came it left, leaving him, Al and Envy breathless it its wake.

"What the hell was that?" Envy asked, scowling into his now open palm, as if the answers would suddenly pop up from it.

"Now you've done it you idiot!" Uryuu seethed. "You think I was telling you those things just to stall?" Rage and fear took him over, and even at this point he could feel with his senses the far off pinpricks of hollows popping up all over Karakura, hungry and looking for food.

But Envy didn't even look concerned, he looked almost bored and once again Uryuu was met with the feeling that he was going to strangle this creature with his bare hands if it was the last thing he ever did. "I really don't care what you said. That stupid little disc didn't even do anything-" Envy cut his sentence off and looked to the roof, where the sound of a heavy body met with a shabby tin covered roof. Screeching claws against metal rang out high above, and a heavy body thumped in steps of four towards where Envy stood.

"What was that?" Al asked, high pitched and fearful, looking upwards.

"Hollows. A lot of them." Uryuu replied.

Al shook in his seat, trying for all he was worth to get out of the chair. "Envy let us free; give us a chance at least!" He cried.

"I'm not letting you go until I get Hoenheim." He barked, but Envy looked unsure, and his eyes kept glancing up towards the ceiling where Uryuu couldn't stop looking.

"If you don't let us go there will be no point in keeping us as bait Envy." Uryuu said with all the ferocity he could conjure. "We'll be dead. And so will you."

His voice echoed strangely off the walls, and not a second later the ceiling split open with a screech of metal that made Uryuu's eyes water, a small slit of weak, late afternoon sunlight streaked onto his face as he looked upwards in fear.

* * *

Shuuehei sat cross legged on the shoten common area floor, a few playing cards held fan like in his hand. It had been a slow morning, with everything done and the information gathered, it was nearing time for their reconnaissance party to head home. He had packed early that morning and his small bag was set near the entrance of the door. Hitsugaya Taichou still had some things to finish up though, and so he sat with Renji, whiling away the time until he could get back to his division and the mountainous stacks of paperwork he was sure to be bombarded with once he was there.

"So when're you guys heading out?" Renji asked, not for the first time that day.

Shuuhei shrugged and glanced at the hallway to where Renji's room was. "Once Matsumoto finally finishes packing, or at least that's what Hitsugaya Taichou said. Got any threes?"

Renji grinned and shook his head. "Nope. That's gonna take a while. Ran always brings lots of stuff."

"Is that why you're hiding out here?" He asked with a smirk as he picked up a card, adding it to the five cards he already held.

"I'm not hiding!" Renji retorted defensively before giving a sheepish look towards the hallway. "I just know when I shouldn't get involved. Got a seven?"

Shuuhei handed over the card with a slow nod. "Very diplomatic of you."

"It aint diplomatic, it's quick thinkin'. What about tens?"

"Yeah I got one, here." He said as he handed yet another card over. "So are you going to be mentioning the Rukia and Ed development to Kuchiki Taichou next time you're back?" He asked with another smile. He knew that Kuchiki Taichou was protective of his adoptive sister, he had even seen it in practice more than once when visiting Renji at his office in sixth division. She had never had a relationship that she had told her brother of – at least as far as he knew – and the resulting reaction from the noble would surely be something for the papers.

"Hell no! I'm letting Rukia deal with that. If I mention it I'll probably get my ass kicked."

"Again."

"Thanks so much for believing in me Sempai. Got a four?"

"Thank goodness no." Shuuhei said with a laugh as Renji picked up another card. "That's what I'm here for Renji."

"So how's your division doin' these days by the way?"

"The third and fourth seats are helping a lot but it's still not the same. With all the things I've been working on I don't think I've had a good night's sleep since…" Shuuhei trailed off and looked at the cards in his hand. He could feel some of the lightness from the previous conversation deflate at the thought of it. If he was going to be honest, it would have been since that fateful day when Tosen Tai- Kaname the traitor left with Aizen and Ichimaru. Mentioning it though was a lot harder to do than he had expected. Where some shinigami could talk of nothing less, he, Kira and at times Matsumoto were usually the ones who dodged the issue for all they were worth. The deception had hit far too close for them. Even thinking about it now made him clench his hands around the flimsy playing cards and feel a small ache he didn't want to yet name drop somewhere inside his stomach.

Renji nodded and his usually animated face stilled in understanding and sympathy. "Yeah. I know." He said quietly. "How 'bout Kira?"

Shuuhei made a noise in the back of his throat and shuffled the cards in his hand. "He's putting on a good face in front of everyone, but he's taking it hard, running his division hard too. We both are. Got a Queen?"

"Yeah, here." Renji passed the Queen over with a little less enthusiasm than before and Shuuhei put it in his pile of pairs on the floor between them.

"It was good to come here for a little while and put it all out of my head for a few days though. That gate is really interesting."

"What do ya mean?" Renji asked with an arched brow.

"How about a nine? Crap." He said when Renji shook his head no. "The residue it left was unlike anything I've encountered before. The reiatsu traces it left is very unique." When he, Hitsugaya Taichou and Matsumoto had gone to the roof where the gate had opened up in the first place there wasn't much of anything left for reiatsu. They had gone to investigate it almost two weeks after it had opened and wasn't expecting anything extraordinary anyways. Reiatsu traces had a tendency to dissipate after a time, but the feeling he had when standing on the roof was different from any types of reiatsu he had felt before. It wasn't the same as the grating tingle the Elric boys gave off, but there was definitely a vibration and it felt heavy, weighing on his skin and making him roll his shoulders in an effort to ease the tension that rose up inside him.

The feeling of the training room was much more intense. When he had flashed down the stairs and landed on the earth floor under the shoten he was immediately bombarded with it. Like snakes crawling up his arms but completely invisible, and at the rubble pile where the gate had actually opened up- there was nothing. It was like a black hole in which not even a single speck of reishi floated, something he had never seen before at all. It was eerie he realized, and held back the shudder that inched down his spine.

"Makes my skin itch." Renji said in confirmation of his thoughts, and if to prove his point he absently scratched at his chest. "Got a three?"

"I asked you that already! Are you holding out on me?"

"I just picked it up. I can't believe those kids actually went through that thing. Freaks me the hell out honestly."

"Urahara told us what happened in the training facility. You're lucky you didn't get pulled in."

"You're tellin me! Got an ace?"

"No. If it opens again we should have a better idea of what it does." Shuuhei murmured while watching Renji pick up another card. There was something indefinably intriguing about it, the thought that there was another world on the other side of a gate that didn't have the traitors on the other side, but another world in which people still laughed, still cried, still made dinner and paid their bills. How much different was it on the other side? And did they have shinigami too? Was there another person like him on the other side, and if there was, did they look the same or were they different? There were so many questions when it came to this gate. Shuuhei's curiosity had been piqued the moment he had heard about it.

"I'm hoping it never does." Renji replied, low voiced and surprisingly vehement. "There's something not right about that thing" He had heard about the arms that had reached out for all the people in the training facility, and again Shuuhei wondered what Renji had gone through. He had refused to talk about it with anyone, only saying '_the damn gate is creepy as fuck_' and had told Hitsugaya Taichou to talk to someone else about the training facility incident.

"Those kids need to go home eventually Renji." Shuuhei chided gently.

"And when they do I don't wanna be around for it. You weren't there Shuu." Renji hunched his shoulders defensively and looked anywhere but at Shuuhei.

Before he was able to add anything to the conversation Hitsugaya walked into the common area. His small bag was held in his hand and he placed it neatly beside Shuuhei's on the floor by the shoten door. "Hisagi, Abarai, where's Matsumoto?" He asked crisply as he turned towards the two fukutaichous sitting on the floor.

"Packin'." Renji replied without looking up from his cards. "It's your turn."

"I know. Got a Queen?"

"Damn it, I just picked it up too." Renji handed over the single card and Shuuhei smiled as he took it from him.

The sound of wheels on a wooden floor caught his attention he and half turned on the floor to watch Mtsumoto step out of Renji's room down the hall. Somehow she had found yet another suitcase, and by the looks of the straining zippers holding both suitcases together they were both full near to bursting.

"I'm ready Taichou." She said cheerily, pulling both of them along seemingly effortlessly.

Hitsugaya looked on in disbelief. "How did you manage to-"

Renji looked amused as he took in the look on Hitsugaya's face. "It's best not to ask."

"I can see that. Hisagi, your ready I take it?" Hitsugaya turned towards Shuuhei. He nodded silently and pointed towards his bag.

"Yes sir."

"Good." He said with a single nod. "I have a report to give to Sou Taichou by the end of the day. I'd like to be back to Seireitei by the afternoon at least." He gave a long look to Matsumoto's trailing suitcases and muttered something under his breath while shaking his head. All in all, Shuuhei thought it was best he hadn't heard what Hitsugaya said by the look of Renji's reaction of a choked off wheeze of laughter.

He stretched lazily and started to stand from the floor, wincing as a single muscle in his lower back complained. He really did prefer sitting on floor pillows as opposed to the hard wooden floor of the shoten common area.

"There might be a slight hitch to your homecoming." Urahara said as he came around the corner. His usual expression of a smiling and ever jovial shopkeeper had disappeared, and he looked concerned, almost worried in fact.

Hitsugaya's eye twitched as he turned towards the blonde. "What now Urahara?" He said impatiently.

Urahara had the grace to look apologetic. "Well, it seems there's been a situation with the Envy creature that came through the gate along with the Elric boys."

Shuuhei turned immediately to Urahara. "What kind of situation?"

Urahara heaved a sigh, and after a weighty pause he looked out from the darkness of his hat to him. "Uryuu is missing, as well as Alphonse, the younger of the two boys. From the information I've gathered, Envy has been impersonating the young Quincy."

"Fer how long?" Renji pushed himself off the floor, looking just as worried as Urahara. "He was acting like usual at Ed's birthday… I think."

"I'm not quite sure about the timing yet." Urahara replied with his eyes downcast. His index and middle finger drummed quickly on his closed fan and he lowered his head fully in thought. _If Envy was pretending to be Uryuu for days, who knows what the hollow knows now _Shuuhei thought worriedly to himself.

"How did you find out?" Matsumoto asked.

Urahara gave her a quick smile and shook his finger towards her in mock seriousness. "A magician never shows what's up his sleeve my dear."

"Don't play games right now Urahara. We're on a tight schedule." Hitsugaya said with a glare towards the blonde.

"Do you think your people here can take care of the situation?" Shuuhei asked doubtfully. "Or should we stay and give a hand?"

Urahara shook his head. "It shouldn't be overly hard. It's one hollow, once we find where he's hiding it shouldn't be too hard to cleanse him."

"Aren't you worried Envy will do something to those boys?" Matsumoto gave a quick look towards her Taichou, who still looked impatient and annoyed.

"It's a possibility, I'll admit, but I highly doubt it." Urahara looked thoughtfully to the cards still on the floor between he and Renji. "He's using them as a means for an end I think."

"And I already took the communication screen down." Hitsugaya was scowling now, a sure sign he was unimpressed. "Damn it. We don't have much of a choice. I said I would meet with Sou Taichou, and it can't be blown off."

"So we're still heading home sir?" Matsumoto looked torn, trying to choose between going back home and staying to help.

Hitsugaya's scowl deepened and he clenched one of his hands into a fist at his side. "We don't have much of a choice." He looked up towards the shopkeeper. "Urahara, let me know when Envy has been cleansed. Sou Taichou will want to know about it."

"I don't see how that will be a problem. Tell Sou Taichou I said hi." Urahara smiled, this one filled with his usual seemingly sweet, yet underhanded good natured attitude.

"It's so you can piss him off aint it?" Renji asked, nudging the shopkeeper with his shoulder.

"Nothing of the sort." Urahara retorted, giving one of his smiles that said it was anything but before turning towards the white haired Taichou. "The Senkaimon is already open in the training facility. It should drop you off outside of your division." He waived the three towards the training facility doors and Shuuhei went to lift his small bag of clothing and followed the group towards the trap door.

"That's helpful. Lets go Matsumoto, Hisagi." Hitsugaya said unnecessarily while following directly behind the shopkeeper, back straight and still looking annoyed.

"Yes sir –What was that?" Shuuhei half turned towards the door of the shoten, a strange feeling coming over him. He didn't know how to explain it really, but all of a sudden it felt as if the air around him was swarming with people, uncountable masses pressing at his senses. It only lasted for a second, but his entire body tensed in confusion and concern, and his hand inched towards Kazeshini.

"I'm not sure…" Hitsugaya was suddenly beside him and he was looking off into the same direction Shuuhei had been.

The room became quiet as all five of them stood near the door, trying to piece together what had just happened. _Is this the feeling the gate has when it opens?_ Shuuhei wondered. He wished that Renji had told him more about what had happened. He preferred to be knowledgeable about something he might have to fight, what the weaknesses were and how he might be able to destroy something without having to lose life or friends. He had already lost enough people through foolish behavior, and his mind took him back without wanting to, to the day he lost his eye during the hollow attack back when he was in the academy. _If Renji, Kira and Momo hadn't been there…_ He bit his lip, not wanting to finish that thought path and snuck a look at Renji who was standing just behind his left shoulder. He looked just as confused and curious as the rest of them, but the agitation he was sure would be there if the gate had opened didn't show on his face.

"I know that feeling…" Urahara had lost all comedy from his voice and when Shuuhei turned towards him on his right, the man looked grim and serious. His hand was gripped in a white knuckled grasp around his now crushed paper fan. Shuuhei was sure if it were any tighter the poor thing would snap under his hands.

He didn't have much time to ponder that though. The words were barely out of Urahara's mouth when he turned back to the doorway. "It's… Hollows." He said in an almost whisper. He could feel them cropping up all over town, low and high level ones all over the city and they were appearing from seemingly nowhere. With each breath he took another popped up.

They were everywhere.

Hitsugaya must have made some kind of noise, but he moved so fast it was almost hard to see. He turned, grabbed two angry fist-fulls of green robes and yanked Urahara down until they were inches apart. "Is this one of Envy's abilities too, and you've just happened to forget about mentioning it to me?" He snarled, knocking Urahara's hat askew on his head.

"Of course not!" the man cried with one hand holding on to the striped green hat.

"Sir, you should really let him go." Matsumoto rested a hand on each of their shoulders, but Hitsugaya looked beyond reckoning with. His green-blue eyes were hard and cold as ice as he stared down Urahara.

"Back off Matsumoto." He growled in warning. "One of these days your secrets will get us killed. You know that?" For a moment the blonde looked like a guilty child with his hand caught in a cookie jar, but it was covered up so fast Shuuhei was unsure it even happened.

"This isn't a secret." Urahara kept glancing worriedly between Hitsugaya's unrelenting stare and the doorway of the shoten. "I think it was snapped hollow bait."

_Snapped hollow bait?_ Shuuhei swallowed around his dry throat. There had always been rumors of such a thing around Seireitei, of a tool that could be used to lure out hollows in the hundreds. He had always brushed them off with a laugh because no one had ever seen one in practice. Even Akon over at twelfth had scoffed at the prospect that something like that could exist. Now he was faced with that rumor made reality like a kick to the gut.

Renji stepped between them, knocking Hitsugaya's fists from Urahara's robes and placing a hand on his zanpakuto. "Aw fuck! Look at this, they're popping up everywhere!" He gestured with his hand towards the town, and Renji was right, where there were only a few of them moments ago, the town was practically overflowing with them now. Almost one hundred of them, little pinpricks of darkness itching at Shuuhei's mind and making him twitch for his zanpakuto. "I think your gonna have to put your meeting off sir." The redhead turned towards Hitsugaya, who looked like he was about to blow a gasket.

"Damn it all to Hueco Fucking Mundo!" Hitsugaya shouted, pulling his zanpakuto from off his back and opening the door of the shoten to the outside world.

* * *

~SOS

Reviews mean love XD and yes I know, evil cliffhangers are evil.


	16. Hollowed Out

Ok, out of love for all you reviewers I have a contest for you, the person to get review #75 will get a gift, I will write you a oneshot with your choice of characters in either the Bleach, or FMA world. (I got this idea from on one of the stories I followed on here, and since I was able to receive a wonderful story from the author by reviewing at the right time, I have decided to pass the idea forward and offer it to you guys) I will write pairings or gen, het or yaoi (obviously) and will go as far as M for rating. No abuse, no non-con or anything like that though.

You have to be logged in to review though; if you're not logged in I won't be able to message you to let you know that you've won.

Good luck everyone! And without further chatter, May I present to you chapter 16

* * *

The first time it had happened was the night they had tried to bring their mother back, and he had given a limb over for him without thought or concern for himself. He had agreed to make a complete philosophers stone when Lust had taken her claw to Al's blood seal, and although there was the sickening disgust of using people to do it, he had still said yes, although he was happy he had made his decision in the end not to do it. When Scar had found them on the street and blew up the side of Al's armor, he'd bartered a deal with the Ishvalan in order to save his little brother and didn't feel remorse, although he knew he probably should have. He tried to give up his own life in order to get Al back after he had found out what his younger brother had done when Envy had killed him, and still it was the right thing to do. He even destroyed the transmutation circle without care of his body in the training grounds in order to make sure Al wouldn't go where Ed couldn't follow; because that just wasn't the way it was going to be.

Every time it was the same, and every time it felt like the last. Al dying simply wasn't an option. It never would be, and it wasn't now. Without Al he was a hollow shell. A pointless existence.

He stood rigid in the park while Rukia and Orihime talked low and urgently as he tried vainly to piece this puzzle together. _If you want your brother back, you know where to find him_. That was the words Ichigo had said to him, the message Envy had given him. If they were in Amestris he would've had an idea, or at least options to look. The mansion at Dante's place, the underground city, the fuehrer's office, abandoned warehouse 5. But here? He barely knew this place. He and his brother had only been here for a few short weeks, where as Amestris had been his home for his whole life, had travelled it many times over, knew the landscape and even knew what kind of people would give him the answers if he looked in the right places.

No one here knew Envy so talking to people here felt useless. Not that talking to Mustang's men back home would be much more useful. Well they would have been able to supply him with options and backup for when they found him at least, Ed corrected grudgingly, and Havoc and Hawkeye would both have jumped at the chance to use their shooting skills, not to mention Mustang showing up to steal the show with his flashy flame Alchemy. Thinking about that gave him an unexpected flash of homesickness and he pushed his thumb and finger to his eyes to try and focus.

What he needed to do was get inside Envy's head and figure out where the hell he would have taken Al and Uryuu. The only problem was that Envy was bat ass crazy and would take them anywhere. But now that he thought on it, he would probably want a place that was strategically good for him. Nothing out in the open, that was an automatic cross out. He didn't care about people, he had heard the homunculi putting down humans time and time again, so maybe some public building? No, he decided. People would probably get in the way, and although he wouldn't mind killing a few of them, too much attention might screw up his plan.

No, Envy would want somewhere out of the way so once he got what he wanted he could fuck off as quickly as possible. Outskirts of town then. Or maybe-

His thoughts completely derailed suddenly as his body shook with a strange sensation, and he wasn't sure how to put a name to it. He frowned deeply, absolutely perplexed as to what the hell just happened. The closest thing he could match the feeling to was the first time he tried touching his brother's armored hand after he had become the philosopher's stone. It was overwhelming with power and gone just as fast as when he yanked his hand away from Al.

Deep unease seeped into him, and hard on its heels came utter panic. If this feeling was residual energy let out when Al died… He darted frantically to and fro, unable to really focus on anything. _No. no no NO! Envy, if you killed Al…_ His breath stalled in his lungs, and he could feel his knees almost buckling under the weight of his thoughts.

"Was that hollow bait?" Rukia asked blankly, looking off into the distance.

Orihime came up alongside her looking fearful and pale. "I think it was. Oh no!"

"Hollow bait?" He asked wearily. He had to keep reminding himself that they had never felt the dizzying power of the philosophers stone, never saw Al glowing red through the seams of his armor, never felt the sickening vibration of countless lives in his hands when he had tried to use Alchemy near his little brother.

Rukia nodded. "It's a long story, I'll tell you on the way." She took out a small candy dispenser and popped a single green ball into her mouth. A small shiver of energy could be felt along Ed's side closest to the brunette, and suddenly there were two Rukia's, one wearing the school uniform and the other wearing shinigami robes.

"Chappy, head to Ichigo's and stay safe." She said urgently to the school uniform version of herself. Chappy nodded and took off down the street.

"This day just keeps getting better and better!" Ed grumbled. "You're sure it was this hollow bait and not something else?"

"I'm sure."

Relief wiped away the tremble of his limbs, washing over him like cool spring water. Al was alright, and that made everything bearable again. His thoughts cleared somewhat before his frown returned. "Why the hell would anyone want use hollow bait at a time like this?"

Rukia looked puzzled. "I don't know, but we have a direction where they might be now, or at least know the person who snapped it, and as far as I know there's only one person in all of Karakura that knows how to make them. It's Quincy technology." She pointed with a delicate finger towards the industrial area of Karakura on the other side of the river, near the outskirts of town. Ed had only been there once before with Ichigo and it was at night time then, so saying he knew where he was going was an exaggeration to say the least, but if Rukia's senses were sharp enough to sense the direction, then maybe the closer they got the better her senses would get in picking it up.

The redhead slowed and looked worriedly into the sky overhead. "They're starting to show up."

Rukia looked in the same direction and Ed followed their line of sight to a small speck high up in the clouds where a black dot of something marred the pearl grey-blue color of the overhead sky. "Orihime, you should go to the shoten and see about that map." Rukia said, turning to the other girl. "Ed and I will head towards the direction of the bait. People might be showing up there in need of healing so it's probably best you go there for now."

"Rukia, you know I can help! I can fight too." She argued earnestly.

Rukia placed a small hand on Orihime's shoulder. "I know you can, but your healing powers are much more important right now. Please?" She asked. Orihime's face fell slightly but nodded nonetheless.

Ed stepped up alongside Rukia, giving Orihime an encouraging smile. "I'll also need that map, and once your there you can call Rukia to let me know where the hell we're going."

"I guess you're right." Orihime agreed, albeit reluctantly. "Be careful you two!" She gave both of them a searching look before running off across the park towards the shoten.

As Orihime took off out of earshot into the distance he turned back to Rukia. "Her powers involve shields, and Tessai has enough knowledge to be able to heal people up in a matter of minutes. Why didn't you ask her to stay?"

"Sometimes you're too quick for your own good." Rukia mumbled, flashing him a quick rueful smile. She glanced back at Orihime's retreating back for the second time that day, a saccharine smile gracing her lips that was just a little bit sad. "She's strong, and has good fighting skills. But she doesn't have the heart of a warrior. Not like us. Her gifts lie elsewhere."

"Not like us." Ed echoed quietly. Her words took him back to another time, another place where a young black and pink haired woman, broken and lost stood before him on the steps of a false god's fallen temple. She became someone that was strong in both will and hope, with the ability to change her entire town and had done it without a single violent action. "I think I know what you mean."

Rukia turned towards him and the smile faded, replaced by something harder. She drew her sword in one smooth, fluid motion, the afternoon light glinting white sparks along the blade. "This won't be pretty Ed, and it's not going to be easy getting there."

Ed clapped his hand, creating his sword from his automail hand. "Tell me something I don't already know."

Rukia stepped towards him until they were bare inches apart and touched the side of his face softly, her thumb tracing the side of his cheek before falling away. She looked like there were so many things she wanted to say, and Ed could see a myriad of emotions flitting across her features: affection, fear, worry, and finally determination. He wanted to say so many things to her right then and there too, things like 'I wish you didn't have to fight' or 'I don't want you to get hurt' or maybe even 'I'm sorry for bringing all this shit down on you' but the words stuck in his throat, and in the end simply nodded at her. Somehow she understood, showing him with a soft lifting of one side of her mouth in a wry, understanding smile. Words were too much for right now, they would save them for later.

"Let's go." She said softly in the end, and as one they turned towards the hollows.

* * *

Chad stepped up to Uryuu's door, pulling the little key he had been given on a strictly "only in case of emergencies" basis and unlocked the door, Ichigo standing close behind him.

"You have a key for his apartment?" Ichigo asked, a single orange eyebrow rising in question. His voice dripped with meaning and Chad's face warmed a little more than he had expected. He gave a half shrug and placed the key back in his pocket.

"Just in case." He replied, echoing the exact words Uryuu had said to him when he had been given the key, which in all honesty was given to him even before he and Uryuu had become anything more than… What they were now.

"You two are moving way too fast." Ichigo shook his head and pushed past Chad, opening the door and stepping through.

Chad's little smile froze on his lips before fading away completely.

The apartment was a complete disaster. Sand and water mixed together, making a muddy pool over the entire kitchen floor. The table was knocked to the side, an impressive two inch burn mark on the face of it. The couch looked akin to swiss cheese, the living room was littered with broken glass, the wall looked dented and one of the windows had been shattered.

If he had been worried about Uryuu before, it was nothing compared to how he felt now. He knew Uryuu didn't need any protecting, and it was one of the things he liked so much about him, but it didn't ease the tight knot his stomach had become.

Ichigo gave a low whistle at the mess, turning in a slow circle to assess the damage of the entire place. "I never thought I'd see the day where Uryuu's apartment looked messier than my room."

Chad only nodded sadly, not trusting himself to speak around the tightness in his throat quite yet. He looked over everything once more, trying to see if there were any traces of Uryuu being injured. He couldn't see anything of any real use, except for when he stepped into the tiny bathroom and found a towel with dried, rust colored stains on it.

"Found this." Chad said as he stepped back into the living room. He held the item carefully in his large hands, cradling it as if it were something precious. _I promised Abuelo I would use these hands to protect…._ He reminded himself, because at that moment all he wanted to do was find that creature and kill him, and not out of protection but cold, hard revenge for putting him and the ones he loved through all this worry and pain.

Ichigo looked from him to the cloth, then back to him again. "We'll find him." He said quietly, and Chad nodded again, swallowing down the dull, hollow feeling inside.

He and Ichigo suddenly turned toward the window, looking out to the windy late afternoon day.

"What the hell?" Ichigo said. Chad knew the feeling, it was the same one he felt the day his powers manifested, the day he saved Ichigo's sister from the hollow he could barely see and Ichigo's dad had to heal him up in their little clinic on the bottom floor of their house.

"That IDIOT!" Ichigo yelled, stepping closer to the window and scowling for all he was worth. "What the hell is he even thinking! I'm gonna ring his stupid Quincy neck for this."

"We know where to go now at least." Chad replied quietly. He placed the towel on the coffee table, turning fully to Ichigo who looked as pissed off as he had ever seen him. A thin veil to cover up the worry and concern he knew Ichigo had for his family and friends.

"Yeah, and we're gonna have to fight an army of hollows just to get to him."

"We can take them." He lifted his arm, giving his friend a thumbs up. Ichigo rolled his eyes. "And besides, it's a start. C'mon." Chad closed his eyes and let his arm change into the armor and that strange dark feeling surrounded him again, just like all the other times. When he had originally figured out his ability it was hard at first to get it to work, but the more he used it the easier it became, until it was as natural as breathing in and out. A part of him he always had and never realized. He wondered silently if this was what Ichigo felt when he put on his hollow mask, or when Renji went bankai. Did they have that moment of strangeness that melted into rightness when their powers manifested too?

He looked over at Ichigo. They never really had to say anything to each other in the quiet moments just before a battle, which was good for Chad. He wasn't really all that good at saying things, he liked to let his actions define him instead. Explaining things meant people could misunderstand, doing however, never left the other person in confusion.

He climbed out Uryuu's broken second story window and landed on the ground, his friend flashing beside him at the same time. They broke into a run, Ichigo's zanpakuto and his arm at the ready.

* * *

Envy stood slack mouthed in the semi darkness of the warehouse, watching the creature that just tore through the roof with its razor sharp claws defy gravity and walk upside down on the _inside of the ceiling_. It looked like a dog of some sort, black and large though it was and more like the size of a huge wolf. It sniffed at the air with its white washed, bone-like nose before jumping and landing sideways on the wall nearest him to howl inarticulately towards the boys, its sharp teeth shining eerily in the half light.

"If you don't let us go we're going to die!" Al shouted, his voice cracking on the last word.

"Not happening." Envy growled. If he were to let them go who knows what kind of crap they would try to pull. But the mention of hollows – whatever the hell those things were – had Envy trying to think of a way to keep these boys intact while still getting the Fullmetal pipsqueak to give Hoenheim over without any further problems. Doing that while this thing hung off the side of the wall however, was becoming more and more of a problem.

Without warning the creature lunged towards the humans tied up in the centre of the room, screeching again with its cries ringing off the walls, this time in triumph. If it were any other time, any other place Envy wouldn't even have batted an eye, and would have watched in mild amusement at the humans getting devoured. But this wasn't any other time. It was here, now, in a place where Hoenheim was practically within reach, so close he could taste it, as sweet as revenge could ever be. It was the end he'd been dreaming of for countless years, decades, _centuries_ even. There was no way some pathetic little monster was going to get in the way of that.

Envy cursed loudly and jumped between the bone-masked creature and the boys. Instinctively he changed form from Dr. Marcoh back to himself with purple eyes, long hair and black clothes. He also changed his uninjured right arm to match Greed's shield. Although it wasn't as strong as the other homunculi, it was still strong enough to do some serious damage. He pushed at the creature hard enough for it to slam back into the wall. The dog like monster collided with the thick concrete and let out a pained squeak as the mask shattered into tiny pieces that faded into nothingness, its body doing the same only a second after.

"What the fuck?" The more time he spent here, the weirder shit got. He turned his arm back into his own, completely baffled at what he just saw. "What was that?"

"Haven't you been listening at all?" The Quincy kid replied, glaring hatefully towards him, "They're hollows, they're like you, they aren't human, and thanks to you the entire town is in danger."

"They don't look like homunculi at all." Envy retorted, looking suspiciously at the spot where the creature had disappeared. There wasn't even a burn mark or a dent in the wall, nothing to prove this creature had existed at all. How the hell could this even happen?

"Different worlds, different monsters." The kid shook his head to try and get his hair out of his eyes, failing miserably. "That was only one, and because of what you've done there's going to be a whole lot more."

Al stared at him imploringly. "Which is why you need to let us go."

"Screw that." Envy spat. "The more you ask me, the less likely I am to do it. You ever thought of that?"

"And what's that going to accomplish?" The Quincy sneered. "In a few minutes this room will be flooded with them. It would only take one to kill us, and there's only one of you."

Envy turned to him in frustration. "Fine then. Tell me how to turn it off."

The Quincy looked on in absolute disbelief, and he opened and closed his mouth a few times before any sound came out. "Turn it-? This isn't some video game; once it's been done it can't be undone!"

"The hell it can't. Tell me!" Envy snapped and took a few long strides towards the boys, deadly intent written in the hard lines of his body.

Al squirmed in his seat, looking like he was trying to get out again. "He's telling the truth. Why can't you see that?"

"If he made it then there's gotta be an antidote or something."

"No antidote, no cure, no nothing." The brunette said in low, hard tones as he looked him in the eye. "You're in over your head Envy, and it's all your fault."

"Bullshit! You skinny little asswipe, tell me how to undo it." This wasn't possible. The kid had to be lying. Like Alchemy, if something could be done, it could also be _un_done, all it took was someone who was willing enough or scared enough to do it, and if the former wasn't possible, than the latter option would be a good plan B. Envy had all sorts of ways to scare people.

He stomped towards him, changing the shape of his arm so that he was holding a sword, long and deadly sharp. He took a handful of black hair and yanked his head back none too gently, pressing the blade to his pale, vulnerable neck, just enough for him to feel it. Blue eyes widened in fear, but he kept his mouth a firm line saying nothing.

"You need me, remember?" Were his only words. Envy brought his face close to the Quincy and smiled.

"Technically, I only need him." He replied with a nudge toward Al.

"Behind you!" Al shouted. He pivoted and came face to face with yet another creature, this one almost human like with thick muscled arms and horns on its mask. Only through the training he had gone through with Dante and the multiple centuries he had been alive made him fast enough to avoid the snapping mouth and angry fists of the monster. The sword in his hand became a useful weapon and he slashed hard at the hollow, completely severing its head and part of its shoulder from the rest of it.

Once again the creature disappeared, and Envy shook his head. This wasn't right. This wasn't how creatures were supposed to die. There was always something left behind, even he knew that. Without there being something, where was the proof that it existed at all? Where was the body, the shell in which they were housed? It made no fucking sense at all. Even homunculi left something behind.

"Make them go away." Envy growled, his back still turned from the boys so all he could see was the dull grey concrete walls surrounding him, hear the far distant howls of the creatures that were just like this one, possibly coming closer to where they were now.

"Uryuu already told you, you can't-"

"I said MAKE THEM GO AWAY!" He screamed. He slammed his fist into the ground, denting the floor beneath him.

"It doesn't feel right killing your own kind, does it?"

Envy spun around, glaring towards the Quincy. "They aren't like me."

"You never saw what you looked like after you came through the gate, did you?" Al Asked. There was something about the way he asked it, something in his voice, the way he looked at him and the stillness in his body that made something inside shiver and crack.

"It doesn't matter what I looked like! I can make myself into anything I want!" He shouted back. To prove his point he shifted bodies, changing form from one to the next, using the many faces he had chosen to wear over the centuries he had lived, finally settling back into his usual form.

Al still hadn't moved, and his piercing gaze was so much that Envy couldn't even return it. "Changing your face doesn't change who you are Envy."

"Shut up! I'm not like them!" He cried. And it was true, because he was nothing like them. They disappeared, which meant they were nothing, and damn it, Envy was something. He was a homunculus. He was stronger than humans; better too, able to live without the constant shadow of death plaguing his doorstep. He had the agility and experience of many of them put together from the long years of his life. He didn't have to deal with petty things like attachments and friendships. He didn't need them. He had seen humans fall prey to those emotions time and time again, become weak and pathetic because of it.

He was stronger, better, smarter. These little fools had no idea what they were talking about. He was about to tell them exactly that, but the sound of breaking glass shattered his thoughts, and he turned to watch another creature climb through the broken window high up on the far wall.

He would kill all of them. He decided it then and there as he watched the thing scramble into the room and land hard on the floor as it prowled towards the boys. If they were all gone, then no one could compare him to these stupid non-existant creatures. He would still be Envy, the greatest homunculi of them all, and nothing would be able to change that.

He created the sword again, and with bared teeth and a feral growl, he attacked the creature before him.

* * *

~SOS


End file.
